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ON THE 



CANAL ZONE 



PANAMA 



BY 



THOMAS GRAHAM GRIER 



J 90 8 



PRESS OF 

The >Vagxer & Hatnsox Co. 

ITO South Clintosv Street 
CIIICAOO 



Price, Sl.OO 



^ 



LIBRARY of CONGHESS 

two Copies Kticeived 

JUN 26 1908 

CLASS A XXc. rau, 
COPY a. 



Dedicated to the Memory of 
my Father 

JOHN ALEXANDER GRIER 

formerly Chief Engineer 

in the 

United States Navy. 

He spent three years cruising ia 

these Southern waters. 



^- 



Copyrighted, 1908, 

BY 

Thomas Graham Grier 






INTRODUCTORY 




HE Isthmus of Panama, discovered by Columbus in 1502, 
has an interesting history. Before the year 15 15, a Span- 
ish adventurer, Balboa, had crossed the isthmus and dis- 
covered the Pacific Ocean. Between 1=^15 and 1321 the 
Spanish Government made every effort possible to dis- 
cover a water-way across the isthmus. 

Panama, at the site of old Panama, was created a city in 1521. 
About 1521 a road, wide enough to accommodate two carts 
abreast, was built from Nombre de Dios, on the Atlantic side, to 
Old Panama, on the Pacific side. About 1531 this road was ex- 
tended to Porto Bello, on the Atlantic side. 

In 1849 the stake, marking the beginning of the railroad, was 
set at Aspinwall, now Colon. The Panama Canal Company was 
organized by M. de Lesseps in 1879, and M. de Lesseps made his 
first trip to the isthmus early in 1880. 

Work commenced on the Canal in February, 1883; in Febru- 
ary, 1889, M. de Lesseps' Company went into the hands of a 
receiver. Approximately $266,000,000 had been expended. The 
receiver estimated $100,000,000 would complete the canal if locks 
were used, and eight years would be required. !> 

Five years after the appointment of a receiver, the New Pana- 
ma Canal Company was established. In 1898 the Objnite Tech- 
nique, composed of seven French engineers, reported *hat a Canal, 
which would be equal to all the demands of commerce, could be 
completed in ten years at an estimated cost of one hundred million 
dollars. 

In 1898 sentiment in the United States was strongly in favor 
of an isthmusian canal under American control. In 1899 Congress 
authorized the President to have an investigation made as to the 
most practical isthmusian route for a Canal under the complete 
control of the United States. 

The report of a Commission appointed by the President was 
made in November, 190 1. The New Panama Canal Company, 
realizing their position and lack of funds, offered to sell or transfer 
its Canal property to the United States for $109,141,500. The re- 
ceiver's estimate of the value of the property that passed into his 



hiinds Wiis $c)o,ooo,ooo. The United States offered $40,000,000 
for the assets of the New Panama Canal Company, which offer 
was accepted. 

In February, 1904, the treaty with the Panama Government 
was ratided, and that strip of hmd, ten miles wide and fifty 
miles long, known as the "Canal Zone," was created. The 
United States, in this treaty, paid to the Republic of Panama 
$10,000,000, and further agreed to pay $2so,ooo annually, begin- 
ning nine years after the ratification of the treaty. "The Canal 
when constructed and the entrances thereto shall be neutral in 
perpetuity," is also a part of the treaty. 

The Canal Commission arrived at the isthmus in April, 
IQ04; about seven hundred men were at work at Culeb-a, all 
machinery in a deplorable condition, quarters inadequate and 
health conditions menacing. It took two years to get an organ- 
ization together and build quarters; in fact, quarters are not 
all completed as yet. 

In 1Q06 dirt began to fly, and every month sees an increas- 
mg amount moved. The plans of our best engineers are being 
carried out under military control, and the Canal will be built 
if the American people will stand by the men who are giving 
their efforts to complete one of the largest undertakings of 
modern history. 

Mv interest in this work led me to take a trip to the isth- 
mus for personal investigation. While there I wrote letters 
home, describing things of interest to me and what I thought 
would be of interest to my friends. I took my camera and 
was fortunate in having friends with cameras also who were 
as interested as I. 

Over eighty of these pictures were taken with my camera, 
the others by my friends. 1 have compiled these letters and 
these photographs in book form. It is not intended as a 
literary or artistic production, as a man engaged in other 
occupations has but little time to re-edit his material. 

I hope, however, that it will give to those who read this 
book some idea of life on the Canal Zone and of the work on 
the great Panama Canal. 

THOMAS GRAHAM GRIER. 




The Steamer Colon in New York, 



EM 1R©UTE WOW. TUE HSTIHIMUS ©F ff^AIMAMA 



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On "Board S'teamer Colon. 

February 15th, 1908, to February 21st. 
It was cold and sleet}^ in New York City when we left Pier 57 
at the foot of West 27th street February 15th, at 3:12 P. M. Our 
leaving time was 3 P. M., but at the end of the pier a man stood 
waving a red flag. This meant that shipping in the river was in our 
way. At 3 :12 P. M. he waved a white flag and no time was lost in 
backing the Steamer Colon into the stream, enroute for the Isthmus 
of Panama. The City of Cristobal is the destination of this steamer. 

The Panama Railroad and Steamship Company, which operates 
this line (a government company), state the distance from New 
York to Colon is 1,980 miles. Colon lying just east of north of Cris- 
tobal. The full page illustration shows how closely the two towns 
are connected. 

The course the vessel follows is almost straight south until it 
reaches the eastern end of the island of Cuba, and then the course 
is southwest through the Caribbean Sea. 

The City of Colon is almost directly south of Pittsburg. It is 
difficult to realize that the Canal is so far East. In fact, the City 
of Colon is about as near London, England, as it is to Seattle, 
Washino'ton. 



The schedule time for this ship is five and a half days from New 
York to Colon ; other vessels of the same line take seven days. No 
stops enroute. Warm climate is reached in approximately 48 hours 
after we leave New York ; depending somewhat on general weather 
conditions, and unless storms come u]), the last four days of the sail 
are summer weather. 

The Steamer Colon is a comfortable, well-arranged, and well- 
managed steamer, about 5,000 Irl. P. twin screws, and is equipped 
with its own refrigerating and electric light plants and wireless tele- 
graph station. Several years ago fever was more or less prevalent 
on these steamers, and the annoyance from mosquitoes when lying 
in the harbor was great. But for the last two years, on account of 
the excellent sanitation of the canal zone, both fevers and mosqui- 
toes have practically disappeared. Formerly everyone slept under 
mosquito netting, both on shipboard as well as on shore; but this 
has not seemed to be a necessity for two years. I have been in- 
formed, however, that about three or four grains of quinine and a 
small portion of rum is administered to the crew several days before 
arrival at Colon; continued while there, and for several days after 
leaving on the return trip to New York. Whether the other vessels 
have been free from fevers I do not know, but the Steamer Colon 
has had none for a long time, and I presume the same is true of the 
others. 

The Panama steamship line is operated mainly for the employees 
of the Panama railroad, and Isthmus Canal, and to carr}^ freight. 
The passenger accommodations are taxed to the utmost, especially 
during the spring and summer months, when many are coming north 
for their vacations, the employees in certain classes of work being 
allowed six weeks' vacation each year, and it is intended that this 
vacation shall be spent away from the Isthmus, it being a matter 
of health. 

The rate for a passenger, not in any way connected with the 
government, for the best cabin is $90.00; while for the cabin of less 
desirable location it is $70.00. A much more favorable rate is made 
for the Canal employees and their families, and while they may not 
receive the accommodation that one may have who pays the high 
rate, they are given preference when travel is heavy, and passengers 
having no connection with the work are not taken, or if they do 
secure tickets it must be through some influence and an urgent 
necessity. There are other lines which have steamers making the 
trip, but the sailing time is longer. The Panama steamship makes 
the quickest and most direct passage, and for business, or for one 
having a limited time at one's disposal, the Panama line is the most 
desirable. 

Alonday. — Though the ship is heavily loaded with freight, she 
rolls so much that many of the passengers are sick. Today we have 
had to have the racks on the table to hold the dishes, and every now 
and then when an extra roll comes, crash goes some crockery, and 

10 




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exclamations fill the air. We upset the Worcestershire sauce bottle 
and put a few glass saucers on the floor. I stood up writing today, 
and swayed like a tall pine tree. It has been windy and cloudy for 
48 hours, but not stormy. The sun has just begun to shine, and it 
will be clear this afternoon (Monday, February 17th). 

This is Tuesday, February 18th, about 10 A. M. We have 
reached the warm climate, and it is comparatively smooth today. 
The sun shines bright, and the ladies are putting on their summer 
dresses. There are about ten children aboard. Today all the sea- 
sick passengers seem to be about, and a full quota sat dowii to break- 
fast. It would do you good to see me eat. I have had eight square 
meals up to date, and will not miss any, and oh! so lazy! Talk 
about loafing, I have it down to a fine art. 

Meals are served three times a day. Breakfast at 8 A. M., lunch 
at 12:30, and supper or dinner at 6 P. M. I find myself ready at 
the sound of the gong; strange how good it is to eat when one is 
hungry. 

The weather is superb, not warm, but spring-like. We are 
merging from winter into summer through the gentle intermediary 
of spring, and doing it all in five days. 'Tis a commentary on the 
progress of our times. 

Today we sighted the Bahama Islands. A mild excitement pre- 
vailed among some of the passengers. One lady cried because the 
sight of land made her homesick. The land was so far ofif that it 
very much resembled fog or clouds on the horizon. It is strange 
to note the difl:'erence in temperament in people. The pendulum of 
mental attitude towards humanity and life swings to the two ex- 
tremes in this small company of travelers. We all seem different, 
yet the officers of the ship are equal to the task of handling the 
work, they are all diplomats. 

I was told today that all permanent residents of the Isthmus 
must be vaccinated, and the ship's surgeon would vaccinate the pas- 
sengers who needed it. Smallpox is not prevalent, but precautions 
are seemingly taken on all matters. I started in on two-grain 
quinine capsules last night, and will follow the regulation until I 
am well away. 

On Tuesday night, February 18th, it started to become oppress- 
ively warm, and Wednesday morning it was hot. A complete trans- 
formation of the passengers and officers, white linen trousers, white 
hats, tan shoes and white shoes. The ladies are now all gowned in 
summer attire. I repacked my trunk, putting away my winter 
clothes, and took out my summer ones. It was a hot and oppress- 
ive job. 



12 




An Officer in White, without his Coat. The Coats are of 
Linen. 



Wednesday, February 19, about 6:30 A. M., we sighted the east 
end of Cuba and had the Island in sight for three hours. We could 
see the green verdure but slightly, a beautiful bunch of clouds hung 
low and cast a shadow, the vicAV was pleasing but would not give 
one any idea of the character of the Island. 

About 11 A. M. we sighted the west end of Hayti or San Do- 
mingo. The land was covered with haze and looked like shadows 
against the background of blue sky. The vessel is making 15 miles 
an hour now, which should land us at the dock at 9 A. ]\I. Friday, 
the 21st. 

I am now wearing summer underwear, low shoes, negligee shirt, 
and light summer suit. Four days ago the heaviest winter clothing. 

'Tis Thursday, February 20th, about 9 A. M. The ship has 
been rolling and pitching since last night and we have a few sick 
ones. I have just been driven from the deck by a sudden shower. 

13 



Today the Island of Navassa was in plain view for several 
hours. While gazing at the land an old sea dog retailed to me his 
experiences in 1869, when he was one of a crew that anchored for 
21 days in the roadstead off this Island, taking on a cargo of guano. 
The Island has a number of stunted trees about 12 feet high, and 
is the breeding place of all kinds of sea or water fowl ; and he said 
jou can knock birds down with a stick they are so numerous and 
without fear. The water about this land is so clear that the white 
sand is plainly seen in depths exceeding 50 feet. My sailor man 
•said that only negroes and the keepers lived on the Island, that 
water for drinking was carried to the Island in casks, and that it 
was oppressively hot. 

The narrative continued from the Island to coral reef, through 
liurricane and to destruction where ship was lost and half the crew. 
It is delightful when the wind is blowing and clouds gathering to 
Tdc told, "Yes, just here is where the hurricanes are born," etc. 
Your imagination helps the rest. 

I came near being seasick one day because an acquaintance on 
the ship gave me the details of a hospital operation; but I wasn't, 
and I have been well from the start. 

It looks very much as if we will make port about 9:30 A. IsL, 
and the morning hours will be filled with the hurry of packing and 
disembarking. Nothing unusual today. The officers in white are 
good to look at. We have four lady musicians on board who are 
.giving a concert series for the Y. M. C. A. on the Isthmus. 

Friday, the 21st, 1908. Thursday evening was clear and the 
full moon and stars made it pleasant on deck, but yet Thursday 
•evening was hot, and Thursday night hotter. At 1 1 :30 I retired 
to my stateroom to roll and toss and perspire. 

When one realizes that it can be so uncomfortable from the 
heat at sea, we appreciate all the more what our government has 
done for the canal zone to make it a livable place. Whenever I 
hear anyone criticise and tell how he can do it better, I'll put a black 
mark on him. I am becoming more and more impressed with what 
I learn of the sanitation of the canal zone. 




14 




It was raining as the Steamer Colon approacFied tlie Docl< at Cristobal and 
the View was Misty. 



TIH]E AI^MVAL AT Cl^HSTOIBAL 

e^* ^^ K^^ 

On February 21st, 1908, the steamer arrived at the dock about 
9:30 A. M., but it was a half hour before we were all passed by the 
doctor of the port. All passengers who are to remain upon the 
Isthmus were vaccinated, but those who are to stay for a week or 
ten days are permitted to land without being vaccinated. All the 
preliminary work was done while at sea by the ship surgeon, who 
hands to the doctor of the port his list of names. We gathered in 
the dining saloon and as our names were called were allowed to 
pass out. Our passengers were all in good shape, so the affair 
was soon over. The most interesting part of the disembarkation 
was the meeting between the waiting husbands and the incoming 
wives and families. 

Our baggage was taken to the Pier Eleven of the Panama rail- 
way, the most important pier and freight shed on the Isthmus, 
where a custom inspector examined mine and allowed me to pass 
on to my hotel in Colon. A colored man put it on a truck and took 
it to the street, where he secured a dirt cart, or what looked like 
one, the vehicle being propelled by a diminutive mule and managed 
by a small colored boy. In Colon silver money of the country, i. e., 
the Republic of Panama money, is two for one in Uniterl States 

15 




Pier No. 11 as Viewed from the Deck of the Steamer Colon, when she Docked for 
Disembarking Passengers. 




Pier No. 11, showing Closer View. Vessels Unloading Freight. 

16 



money. The charges for hauHiig the baggage was 50 cents gold for 
the trunk, and 25 cents each gold for my other two pieces ; making 
two dollars "silver." As is customary with many of the baggage 
transfers the manager of this complete transportation company 
tried to hold me up, but I had been advised before of the difference 
in money values. I came from the wharf in a carriage and this 
outfit also tried to speculate on my supposed innocence. However, 
since the first two occasions I have had no further trouble. 

My hotel, the Imperial, is a three-story frame structure. The 
office, bar-room, bowling alley, billiard and pool-room, and stores 
are on the ground floor. On the second floor is the social room 
or parlor, a very large dining room, kitchen, and a few bed rooms. 
On the third floor all bed rooms. A porch runs nearly all around 
the building on both the second and third floors. The bed rooms 
are two styles, inside and outside rooms; you enter the outside 
rooms from the porch. The rooms have one door and one window. 
The walls and ceiling are plain matched boards painted a light lead 
color, the floor is bare with the exception of one small piece of mat- 
ting for a rug by the bed. The furniture consists of a good bed, 
white enamel and brass, a rocking chair, two other cane-seated 
chairs, a large bureau, a wash stand, center table, several clothes 
poles, and a rack with eight pins to hang clothes on. There is a 
push button to call the maid or porter. There is but one electric 
light in the room. 

The partitions are about 9 feet 6 inches high and the ceiling at 
least 11 feet. This makes it possible for the air to circulate and 
also to hear all that your adjacent neighbor says. The air blows 
through your room in the evening almost like a gale, and the nights 
are cool and comfortable at this time of the year in Colon and 
Cristobal because of these "trade winds." 

I have one of the good rooms and it cost $2.50 per day, Amer- 
ican money. The room as a sleeping apartment could not be bet- 
ter, but is not much in appearances. The bed is provided with a 
mosquito netting, but the breeze is sufficient to drive away any 
wandering mosquito; in fact, the first night the wind blew through 
the room so strongly that it was with difficulty that I kept the net- 
ting in place. These nettings weer an absolute necessity two years 
ago, but now with the constant fight against the mosquito they are 
used less and less. 

My bed consists of a bedstead, springs, a mattress, one sheet, 
one bed spread, and two pillows. You do not sleep under the 
sheet, but on it. The bed spread you pull over you when you go 
to bed, and then kick it off when you are asleep; then towards 
morning you wake up and pull it up over you. It gets cool towards 
morning; a rain at night makes the morning cooler. I am told 
that during the rainy season the rain in the interior makes it cool 
enough to even find that a blanket is comfortable. 

17 




Imperial Hotel. 




Residence of Railroad Official: one of tlie Healthy Spots. You can see the Wind blowing the Trees. 
In Colon, Near Washingrton Hotel. 



18 




Inside the Door was a Bar: it was a real Department Store: you 
could buy Shirts, Cigars, Coffee, Tea, Etc. 



19 



A View looking West: Royal Mail Steamship Docks, Colon Railroad Station to the Right. The 
Railroad runs along the West Side of Front Street. The Railroad Station is about One Block from 
the Imperial Hotel. 



The commissary department makes living comparatively inex- 
pensive for the employes of the Isthmus Canal commission and 
the Panama Railroad company. I thought I would investigate how 
things were for others living in Colon who did not possess the gov- 
ernment privileges. I found that butter sold at $1.25 a pound, 
silver. One pound loaves of bread, 15 cents. Meat, $1.00 silver 
a pound, and this price was for liver, too, about good enough for 
cat meat. Ice sufficient for a family of four costs 75 cents a day. 
The above items are all given in silver and are only one-half these 
figures in American money. Sugar seemed cheaper, only 10 cents 
silver, and very good. Rice seemed cheaper, and also tea and cof- 
fee ; but both tea and coffee are very inferior to what we get in 
Chicago. Tea was for sale at 20 cents a pound, and I wondered 
who paid for the packing. Flour and lard are very poor, and corn 
meal an impossible thing to consider as food. Fresh eggs are 5 
cents gold each, 10 cents silver, and I have seen them advertised 
at 70 cents gold a dozen. 

The above was obtained from two house-keepers who have to 
depend on the local stores for supplies. One of these ladies also 
stated, for an eight-room apartment, finished, she said, like the 
loft of a barn, cost $87.50 per month in gold. Her husband is 
interested in three stores, and the rent of the smaller ones was 
$3.00 gold per day. When you looked at the size you had to 
admit the price was steep. 

20 



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The Panama Government Building and Post Office, Colon. 





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Panama Railroad Offices. 



21 



Household help is plenty, some good, but mostly very ineffi- 
cient. Wages $15.00 gold per month. I am here during the dry 
season, but a few questions brought out some of the difficulties of 
housekeeping, and reasons for increased expenses of living. 
Clothes and merchandise will mildew in a day, or even in less time 
in the rainy season. A man at luncheon said that he hung up his 
hat at midday, and when he took it down in less than an hour and 
a half the band was covered with mildew. I thought this was a 
joke, but another man said no! He has had a pair of shoes turn 
green in the night, and that clothes hung up in a closet would be 
ruined in a short time. To prevent clothes from mildewing it 
seems a custom to have an electric light burning all the time inside 
the closet. 

I went further in my search on this mildew proposition to see 
what the stores had to say. In a cigar and stationery store they 
showed me a cabinet or cupboard in which they kept all the tobacco, 
cigars and cigarettes, except what was in the show case, and in the 
cupboard was a light. They explained that the stock in the case 
deteriorated rapidly unless the sun shone on it. The wife of the 
proprietor gave this information and volunteered the further 
fact that they kept a lighted incandescent lamp in the piano, and 
also kept moth balls in the piano. She said moths, roaches, fleas, 
and centipedes were plenty in Colon. There was a roach in my 
room; it was two and a half inches long. But housekeepers must 
know about the others, and a closer acquaintance with foreign in- 
sects is not desired. 

A resident of Cristobal has a deep and wide closet or wardrobe 
which has an electric light under the lower shelf ; he informed me 
that it was the only way he had of keeping his clothes and certain 
other articles from being ruined by the dampness. A resident of 
Culebra whom I met said that he had an air-tight room in which 
a light was kept burning all the time ; in this "dry room" his family 
kept their clothes. 

Aly investigation on mildew brought me a few more items on 
household economy. Good apples 35 cents a pound silver, and 
California grapes $1.00 silver per pound. Also that fruit of any 
kind, except oranges and bananas, are imported, and as far as I 
can find out this seems to be generally true, and from the nature 
of the country seems strange. I have seen some cocoanuts on the 
trees, but these may not be classed as fruits. 

My housekeeping friends also called my attention to the milk 
and cream. They said that evaporated milk was what they used, 
and the only other kind that they could get was goat's milk. I 
thought I saw a pitcher of real milk tonight at dinner at the Cris- 
tobal Hotel; the first I had seen since I left the Imperial Hotel, 
New York. But, no ! The pitcher of milk was condensed milk 
mixed and bottled up in the kitchen and put in a pitcher. You 
must realize, however, in the above impressions on food and house- 

22 



keeping I am getting what the inhabitants of the city of Colon 
have to contend with; not what the government employes get, who 
are supplied from the government stores. On this milk question it 
should be mentioned that at the commissary quarters condensed 
milk is served. The cans are labeled at this hotel "Evaporated 
Milk," from Highland, Illinois. 

I saw an empty wooden box in which evaporated milk had been 
shipped. On the side is burned in large letters, "Keep in a cool, 
dry place," which instruction, I think, is about the most difficult 
for any housekeeper to follow. 




23 



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American Quarters, Colon, as Viewed from the Washington Hotel. 



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On February 22nd the day was clear, with occasional light 
showers. It was a holiday for the Americans on the- isthmus. In 
Colon the "Red Men" had a street parade and barbecue. The town 
was filled with people who are working along the line of the rail- 
road, and merrymaking was the order of the day. 

In the morning I took breakfast at the Washington (Commis- 
sion) Hotel, and remained around the quarters until the parade 
passed by. By the quarters I mean the American quarters in 
Colon, said to be the healthiest spot on the isthmus, and reminds 
one of a delightful ocean resort. Near the quarters, stranded on 
the beach, is the hull of one of the French barges. 

We spent the time during the morning in the city of Colon and 
at the quarters in Cristobal ; taking our noonday meal at 1 1 :30 
A. M. at the Cristobal Hotel, conducted by the I. C. C. (the Isth- 
musian Canal Commission). The noonday meal starts at 11 A. M. 
and the hotel is open for service until 1 P. M. 

After resting a short time four of us started out on a tour of 
investigation. Our steps took us along the commission's propert}^ 
The first point of interest was the corral where the wagons and 
mules are kept, and well kept; not a single mule kicked while I 
was there. I took a picture of the collection of wagons, and a 
picture of a building now used as a stable, but where employes of 
the commission and railroad used to sleep. It looked like tough 
quarters, but things are better now. 

24 




The Red Men's Parade on Palm Avenue. Cristobal, Washing:ton's Birthday, Feb. 22, 1908. 

The machine shop was the next place, and it is certainly a sur- 
prise to see such a complete and well ordered and equipped shop. 
This, I understand, is the only shop on the isthmus operated by the 
Panama railroad. The machinery of the shop is driven by old 
French engines which have been rebuilt; and some of the con- 
struction tools, such as cranes and cars left by the French, have 
been put in working order at this shop. Also several old French 
locomotives have been rebuilt here. There are other machine shops 
along the canal, but they are part of the canal organization. 

We visited the round house and it looked like one of our own 
railroads in the States. In many of the stalls two engines were 




Washingrton Hotel as Viewed from the American Quarters, Colon. 



25 




Corral where iMules and Wagons are kept. 




Stable that Used to be Sleeping Quarters. 




P. R. R. Round House, Cristobal. 



26 




Negro Quarters and Mess at Cristobal. 

standing, and about 30 engines in all were in the round house. Re- 
member this was on Washington's birthday and possibly a few 
extra engines may have been on hand, but the freight engines are 
in the round house or yard during the day. 

The railroad is used during the day for hauling " construction 
material for the canal work, and moving the dirt from the excava- 




Old French Bucket Dredges, back of Negro Quarters at Cristobal. 



tions. The only other trains allowed are four passenger trains 
each way. The freight for the Pacific steamships line begins to 
move from 5:30 P. M. and continues all night if the quantity of 
freight to be hauled requires. A train carrying commissary sup- 
plies and ice leaves Colon at about 4 A. M. The only ice plant 

27 




An Unloading Crane or Hoist used in the work of the Canal. 



operated by the government is here in Cristobal. There are two 
other ice plants on the isthmus, one in Colon and one in Panama, 
owned by private capital. 

Right near the round house was a coal hoist and chute that un- 
loads the coal from the car and puts it in bins at an elevation, which 
enables the engineers to coal up their engines by gravity, a great 
saving in time and physical exertion. 

The negro quarters were near, and our visit to them impressed 
me how much they are like children. There are some very good 
negroes working, but the large majority are inefficient and irre- 
sponsible unless under the direct guidance of an overseer, and then 
even their irresponsible nature makes it a difficult matter to handle 
them. 

The harbor back of the negro quarters had a number of pieces 
of abandoned French machinery. I photographed some of the 
dredges. The dry dock further on is sufficient size to take care of 
the largest dredges and tugs used on the canal. An old French 
barge or sea-going clapet, self-propelled, was in the dock being re- 
paired. 

The commissary warehouse or Mount Hope is a building 500 
feet long and 100 feet wide. It is built of frame and corrugated 
iron, and is divided into three sections by fire walls. They burned 
one store house down and now great care is observed. At this 
warehouse all the supplies for the canal (not food) is received and 
redistributed according to requisition. Very heavy machinery or- 
dered for special work may not be unloaded here, but from the 
looks of the stock it seemed as if everything could be found in 
this place. 

28 




French Barges or Clapets' 




A General View, Pier and Dry Docit used by the Canal Commission. 




A Closer View, showing Dry Dock in the Center and Shops on the Right. 

29 



Entrance Old French Channel. 

By the time we reached the warehouse we had placed one mile 
between us and Cristobal, and I was hot and tired, but we had one 
more place to see — the reservoir for supplying water to Cristobal 
and Colon. I was told it was about a mile, but a mile up hill on 
railroad track and through jungle seemed like many miles. We 
passed pumping station and filter plant, and on and on we trudged. 
When we reached the top of our climb the view was one mass of 
green foliage on all sides, a regular jungle picture. Of course the 
reservoir looked all right, and we made haste to get back to rest 
our tired feet. 

All along our climb we could see small huts perched on hillside ; 
negroes and Chinamen cultivating small banana fields surrounded 
by the dense tropical growth, trees covered with vines. 

Our afternoon jaunt had taken about five hours. At 6 P. M. 
we dined, rested until a little after 8, then made tracks for the Im- 
perial Hotel, stopping on several errands. By 10 P. M. I was in 
bed sound asleep. 





" .,' ^■- m. ^ 




^^y^^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ktm 


HH^^^^^^^^^^I 


-^Tj^-^ -^^^^^H 


^^^^BB 



Old Pipe and Abandoned Machinery left by the French. 

30 




Here is the View you have of the Quarters at Cristobal when you look towards the 
North. There is a Carriag:e Drive on the Other Side of the Engrine and Car in the Fore= 
ground. 



A SIHI©1IT ID)ES€MIPTII®1M AMB fflMVENTOIRY ©F 



^* «^* t^^ 

The steamers of the Panama Steamship Line at one time used 
to dock at Colon, but now the company have a dock along the 
south side of Cristobal. If you w^alk directly av^ay from the 
steamer across the tracks to the road you are at the quarters in 
Cristobal. Turning to the left and walking along the road you 
come to a point of land on which is the De Lesseps residence and 
official headquarters. Continuing in your walk you round the 
corner and have in plain view the curving xA.venue of Palms, which 
borders the east side of the quarters; it is sort of a V-shape point. 
At the very point the land has had an elevation above the sea level 
for many years, but further inland less than three years ago it was 
a marshy, muddy hole, which has been all brought up to a satis- 
factory grade. And on this place are many houses, a commission 
hotel, a commission club house for employes, fire department, post 
office, police station, market, railroad station, commissary depart- 
ment store, cold storage warehouse, ice plant, bakery, laundry, and 
not the least. Pier 11 where the vessels unload their freight and 
passengers. 

When passengers disembarked from the steamer Colon we did 
not get oil under the protecting cover of Pier 11, but just about 
550 feet to the west of it. But we had to follow our baggage, 
which was taken there by our stewards. 

31 




De Lesseps' Residence, now Used by the I. C. C. It is within a Three Minutes' Walk 

from the Dock. 

Turning to the right as one leaves the pier we come to the cold 
storage warehouse, and right along the avenue in order come the 
ice plant, laundry and bakery. 

The cold storage plant is as complete as any in the Chicago 
stock yards and is managed with the greatest care. There are air- 
cooled rooms, rooms near the freezing point and rooms away below 




statue of Columbus and Indian Maiden in Front of 
De Lesseps' House. 

32 




.^^^ 




Turning the corner at De Lesseps' House, you come upon Palm Avenue. There are 
a double row of palm trees and a good road. The View of the Red Men's Parade 
shows the Avenue better. This Illustration shows the green grass walk by the 
sea wall. 

the freezing point. Every piece of meat as it comes from the 
States is wrapped in a thin cloth to keep it clean ; additional heavy- 
cloth that looks like burlap is put over this for further protection 
and cleanliness. Everything is spotless. 

In this tropical country it does not take long for food stuffs to 
spoil, and consequently the care is most essential. The families of the 
government employes are supplied with food stuffs from this place, 




Cold Storage Plant; next to this is the Ice Plant, then the Laundry and then the 

Bakery. 

33 



as are also the commission hotels and messes. Four hundred and 
fifteen thousand pounds of fresh beef per month is sent to the ho- 
tels and messes, and two hundred thousand pounds for family trade. 

The cold storage warehouse receives from New Orleans every ten 
days one hundred and fifty tons of fruit and vegetables, of which 
eighty tons are potatoes. Two hundred and fifty barrels of apples are 
received every five days. Eight hundred gallons of milk, in cans, 
is received every five days and is bottled in the storage plant. (You 
do not get any of this at the commission hotels.) Two hundred 
cases of eggs (thirty dozen to the case) are received every five days. 

Pork, mutton, veal, fowl and anything in season in New York 
can be obtained. The family trade by this means have a New 
York market brought to their door. The prices are published 
weekly, so the housewife knows what she has to pay. 

The storage plant is in a building three stories high, no base- 
ment. The first floor is for meats, ice, milk, butter, eggs. The 
second floor, "air cooled," is for fruit and vegetables. 

The ice plant makes 63 tons of ice a day, and occupies the 
ground floor to the west of the storage rooms. 

The printing plant, operated in connection with the Panama 
railroad commissary department, occupies the third floor. It does 
all the railroad printing and turns out over 2,000,000 individual 
pieces of printed matter monthly; mostly forms and blanks used 
in railroad service. There are seven presses. This plant does all 
its own book ruling and book binding, composition and stereotyp- 
ing. It is a modern self-contained plant. Every machine is run 
by an individual electric motor. A fairly large stock of paper is 
carried and every effort made to give economical results in oper- 
ation. 

The class of men working in the printing plant are all native, 
or West Indians, except foreman and superintendent. Under 
proper supervision it is stated that these men make efficient work- 
men. While they are slower than Americans their work is very 
satisfactory. 

A coffee roasting plant has recently been installed on the third 
floor over the ice plant, the idea being to roast coffee on the isthmus 
instead of sending it to New York. This will save time and also 
the transportation expense to and from New York. 

The laundry does all the washing for the steamship line, for 
the commission hotels and for employes on the canal work and rail- 
road. Two hundred and seventeen employes were at work in Feb- 
ruary, the majority women. It is warm work, but the buildings 
are open and well ventilated. All machines are electrically heated 
and operated except two steam heated mangles. Seventy-four elec- 
tric hand irons are used. The work is in charge of a superintend- 
ent and two assistants. 

34 




.^''f^^ ^ '""strations give an Interior Viewoftlie Laundry 
rnn™!f*?''^'k Another Department as large as one of these 
rooms IS about completed. With the Laundry at Ancon! 
is fn'^f.^hr^r^ the Canal Zone will begin to feel that relief 

ind fhl I 1:.„H ?*"u*''''*'lf * ^""^^ ^'■^«* ""»»" '" a hot climate 
and the Laundries have been overcrowded with work 

35 








-ujc*^ . 



'*»!B«a«i^^.-i«*gj^j 



1 l^^'^^'^ 




Two Groups of Employes in the Laundry. 



The bakery adjoining the laundry bakes all the bread for the 
commission hotels and is a model, up-to-date plant. The bakery 
also furnishes pies, pastry and rolls. The dough mixers are white, 
but the majority of the help is colored, but nowhere can you see 
greater cleanliness than in this place. Every employe seems to have 
a personal pride in the work. Clean white clothes and cap are 
donned every day. An ice cream department or factory will be 
started, all milk used being brought in cold storage from New York. 




36 




Panamanian Fire Department, Colon. 



A WMM m €©L©M 



^* «^* t^* 

On the night of February 23rd I was tucked under the bed 
spread by ten-thirty, but not for a full night's sleep. Suddenly it 
seemed pandemonium broke loose. I jumped to my feet, looked at 
my watch; 'twas just a little after 2 A. M., February 24th. The 
locomotive whistles were blowing and people shouting; it was a 
fire. Without waiting I rushed out on the porch in my night 
clothes and joined three others. Two blocks to the south of us a 
frame structure was sending aloft huge flames. The wind was 
blowing strongly, and while we watched another building caught. 
By this time our crowd of spectators, women and men, had in- 
creased to over twenty, and no ceremony was observed in regard 
to clothes. The fire began spreading, the night was as bright as 

37 




The American Fire Department at Cristobal. 



day. I retired to my room, dressed, packed all my things and made 
ready for a hasty exit, then again joined the watchers. There were 
very few who did not do the same as I did. From our elevated 
position we could see the firemen. They were driven back time 
and time again from the heat, but would return to the fight. The 
buildings were of frame, of light structure, and soon the entire 
block was ablaze. 

A bucket brigade was formed to throw water on the three men 
who were holding the nozzle of one of the fire hoses ; they were 
fighting to keep the fire from spreading across the street. We 
watched them with intense interest, for if it did spread and the 
area of the fire increased, it would be beyond the power of the two 
available fire companies. The heat grew stronger and stronger, our 
anxiety waxed greater, but about 4 A. M. the structure began to 
fall and the fire was under control. The streets were full of people 
carrying household articles ; carts were loaded down, and even col- 
ored women with big bundles on their heads were a common sight. 
At 4:30 we felt safe to retire, but at breakfast it was a sleepy crowd. 
Yet all were thankful that they were not out camping on the streets, 
as were many of the poor unfortunates whose abiding places and 
homes had been destroyed. 

The American fire department is at Cristobal and it is a picked 
body of men; they certainly can hustle. You get a different view 
of things standing around in pajamas and bare feet. I am not say- 
ing much about the Colon fire department, made up of Panamanians, 

38 




Chemical Engine, part of tlie Equipment of tlie American Fire Department of tlie Canal Zone. 



only they are strong on blowing bugles and making noise and a 
little weak on throwing water. 

This fire was a commentary on the commissions' foresight. The 
proprietor of the hotel said that a fire like the one of this night two 
years ago would have wiped Colon ofif the earth, but the new fire 
department of Panamanian government and the one of the com- 
mission, together with the water works system, saved the city. Two 
years ago all the protection the city had was a few water tanks. I 
hardly expected to see the efficiency of these improvements demon- 
strated, but my commendation cannot be too strong for the canal 
commission; they are doing wonders and have great odds to con- 
tend with. 




39 




Interior View of Bachelor Quarters at Paraiso. 



»1M CLU§ IHI©U^ 



^^ 9^^ t^^ 



With so many men and no sources of entertainment for them, 
a problem presented itself to the Canal Commission, a problem that 
was partly solved by building four Commission Club Houses, one 
at each of the following places: Culebra, Empire, Gorgona and 
Cristobal. 

These houses are provided with a gymnasium, a bowling alley, 
pool and billiard room, library, a room for games, checkers, chess, 
etc., an entertainment room, barber shop, shower baths, and in the 
wide, cool corridor chairs and tables are provided and soft drinks 
and ice cream served. Cigars and tobacco are also sold. 

40 




41 



An agreement of co-operation was entered into by the Isthmian 
Canal Commission with the International Committee of the Young 
Men's Christian Association for supervising club privileges. The 
Commission built and equipped the club houses. The committee 
supplied the secretaries. These secretaries organize and conduct 
the activities of club life, and while the ownership and control of 
the property rests in the Commission, a committee of five repre- 
senting the Commission act in an advisory capacity. 

The secretaries are bonded and are accountable to the Commis- 
sion for all expenses and receipts. Money can only be spent when 
voucher is approved by the General Secretary. The Association is 
to be as near self-supporting as possible. Membership dues, fees 
or receipts from any other source will be expended in the conduct 
of the work, and the extent of the privileges depend upon the in- 
come. 

The membership of the club is limited to the white "gold" em- 
ployes of the Canal Commission and the Panama Railroad. Spe- 
cial action on others not in the employ of the government is re- 
quired. 

No initiation fee is charged, but dues are payable in advance. 
Four dollars for a quarter year, seven dollars for a half year, 
twelve dollars for a full year. Charges are made for pool 2^ cents 
per cue, billiards 30 cents an hour, bowling 10 cents a game; lock- 
ers are one dollar per year. 

Membership tickets in any Y. M. C. A. will be honored for their 
unexpired value. Members can have tickets issued to guests, and 
if you are a stranger just walk up to the secretary and introduce 
yourself, and if you are just down there looking around they will 
take a chance on you and some hot days you will be very glad to 
take advantage of the courtesy. There is nothing equal to a good 
shower bath, and you will find them at every club house. 

I commented upon the genial hospitality of the Y. M. C. A. 
secretaries and their associates, and was met with the response that 
it was their belief that Christianity was a life to live and not simply 
a creed to believe. "We are practicing what we believe the Bible 
teaches us to do. The needs of all men are not the same. The 
Commission recognize the physical and mental necessity of provid- 
ing meeting places, and we make it our aim that it will be a place 
for wholesome recreation. We have our Bible classes on week 
night, we have Sunday clubs organized voluntarily, who arrange 
for speakers in the entertainment hall, either men from abroad or 
prominent men who are prepared to give talks on vital subjects of 
the day." 

The ladies are extended the privileges of the club on Tuesday 
and Thursday afternoons, and are also admitted to public entertain- 
ments. 

42 



Reading 

and 

Writing Room. 



Game Room: 

Clieclcers, 

Cliess, Etc. 



Pool and 
Billiard Room. 



Bowling Alley 

and 
Gymnasium. 




43 



The entertainment hall may be rented by social organizations or 
clubs for dances, concerts or entertainments. A piano and a stere- 
opticon are part of the equipment. 

Educational classes similar to those in the states are organized. 
Baseball nines and bowling teams are very active. There are four 
secretaries and one traveling secretary. There are also four assist- 
ant secretaries, but these assistant secretaries are also physical 
instructors. 

The committee who are called "advisory" are: 
Colonel Wm. C. Gorgas. 
Mr. W. G. Tubby. 
Mr. H. L. Strentz. 
Mr. J. Bucklin Bishop. 
Mr. A. Bruce Minear. 

These men, I am informed, approve of the building of four 
more club houses, if that is correct. They are wise men. You 
take men living in rooms, comfortable though they are, and eating 
in "hotels" where food tastes the same day after day (and the cooks 
are just as poor as poor can be), why he just naturally wants to go 
out somewhere, and there is no place to go. Every little country 
town has its country grocery store for a neighborhood club, but 
along the canal where the dirt flies is the most lonesome place when 
the sun goes down. The most confirmed bachelor just can't help 
getting married down there ; what they need is more married quar- 
ters and a few more club houses. 

Wm. H. Baxley of Culebra, J. Floyd McTyier of Empire, Ralph 
R. Wolf of Gorgona, and M. J. Stickel of Cristobal are secretaries 
and have club houses ; and F. C. Freeman travels around help- 
ing out. 

But the boys that put you through the paces are Robt. Goodman, 
C. H. Gififord, T. F. La Rose and Robt. E. Gourlie. 

These are physical instructors and assistant secretaries. It's 
worth while to know them all ; you may go down to the canal zone 
some time and you can make yourself at home if you behave. 




44 







One of the 70 shovels along the line of the Canal. 



TMIE CAIMAL 

f^ t^ e^* 

The Isthmus of Panama has an easterly and westerly direction. 
On the north side of the Isthmus is a bay called Limon Bay; this 
is two and three-quarters miles wide, and extends inland about four 
and a quarter miles. 

To the east of the entrance lies the island of Manzanillo, on 
which are the two cities, Colon and Cristobal. Back, or east of 
the island, is the Bay of Manzanillo, which formerly connected with 
Limon Bay, but across this narrow neck of water the railway is 
carried by an earth embankment, thus turning the island into a 
peninsula. Limon Bay forms the harbor of Colon. 

Starting about four miles and a half from the shore line of 
Limon Bay a channel about forty-one feet deep is being dredged. 
This channel runs parallel to the shore line at Colon. It is the be- 
ginning of the great canal. 

Colon, on the railroad schedule, is four and a half miles from 
Mindi, and Mindi is practically a half mile from the shore line. It 
is here where the railroad and the canal meet; up to this point the 
canal channel will be wide and straight. A slight turn is made at 
Mindi and the digging of the channel continues for about two and 
three-quarter miles up to Gatun. The distance given for the canal 

45 




steam Shovel in Cut at Paraiso. 



channel up to this point is 7.15 miles. The distance along the rail- 
road from Colon is given as 7.08 miles. 

The canal, up to this point, is at sea level, the tide on the At- 
lantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea hardly exceeding two feet at its 
greatest range. Up to Gatun the elevation of the land is not very 
high, but from this point on to Pedro Miguel (according to railroad 
schedule 40.72 miles from Colon) is where the high elevations are 
met and where the dirt must fly. 

The enormous amount of excavation necessary to make the 
entire channel a sea level canal, as well as the time required, were 
two of the important factors which led to the decision to make 
a lock canal. Another consideration was the difificulty of controll- 
ing the water flow in the Chagres River, flowing into the Atlantic, 
and the Rio Grande flowing into the Pacific. So a lock canal was 
decided upon, and they are building it. 

I led you up to the town of Gatun, following the canal as 
planned up to Gatun, because here is a point where the great dam 
is to be built which will control the waters of the Chagres River and 
its many tributaries, and will flood many square miles, making a 
great lake. At Gatun, too, are three great locks to lift the vessels 
to the higher level. 

This great lake is, of course, of various depths, its maximum 
level above the sea will be eighty-five feet. A channel through this 
lake must have a depth of at least forty feet, and the line of the 
canal follows the line of lowest elevations and least excavations. The 

46 




Showing another of the 70 shovels, moving rock. 

channel continues south in a straight line from Gatun for four 
miles, takes a decided turn towards the southeast for four miles and 
a half, practically at this point right in the channel of the Chagres 
River. Again it turns for a mile and three-quarters almost directly 
east, another turn to the southeast of less than three miles, again 
to the south for two miles, to the southeast for a mile and a quarter, 
to the east for two miles and a quarter, northeast a mile, east a 
mile, a little south of east for three miles and this brings the canal 
channel past Gorgona Matachin and up to Bas Obispo. 

It will be difficult in reading the above twists and turns to grasp 
the course unless one puts it down on paper, yet it is necessary. I 
have given the above in detail and in approximate distances in order 
to answer the question "Does the canal go straight across?" "Why 
not? Well, how does it go?" Further than this it must also be 
added that from Gatun to within a few miles of Obispo the channel 
as dug will not appear as a canal, as there will be the surface of 
the lake stretching on all sides. 

From Bas Obispo to the Pacific Ocean the line of the canal has 
few turns and follows an almost southeasterly course. The south- 
ern or Pacific end of the canal is east of the Atlantic end by ap- 
proximately 20 miles or more. The Pacific end of the canal is a 
short distance from Panama. It makes its entrance into the ocean 
at La Boca and the channel is being dredged to a distance of about 
four miles to deep water. 

Originally it was decided to place a lock at Pedro Miguel (39^ 
miles from the Atlantic, 10 miles from deep water of the Pacific), 
have a dam at La Boca, making a lake with a 55 foot level, having 
also two locks at La Boca. Upon investigation of the foundation 

47 




Cut showing proposed Site for Dam at La Boca. This Site is abandoned, but the 
Government is filling in the land. 



for the dam and for better protection, the plan has been changed. 
The dam will be at Miraflores, which is approximately 41 miles 
from the Atlantic end of the canal channel and about 8 miles from 
deep water in the Pacific. 

The locks will be located between Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, 
and there will be a sea level channel from Miraflores to deep water 
in the Pacific. The tide in the Pacific has a range of 23 feet. This 
requires additional excavation on the Pacific end and regulating 
gates for the tide. 




Laying- Temporary Tracks for Dirt Trains and Steam Shovel. 



48 




Getting a Steam Shovel up to Its Work. 



©ATUM DAM AIMP L©€I]C^ 



5^* t^* ^^ 



At Gatim the valley of the Chagres River descends to nearly 
sea level. On either side rise two large hills and in the center is 
another natural elevation. These natural embankments have been 
selected for the abutments of this great earth dam, which is to control 
the flow of the water towards the Atlantic and will make the 
great lake. 

The base of the dam from the lake to the extreme toe towards 
the ocean will approximate 4,000 feet, but depends upon the char- 
acteristics of the material used in its construction, and will be made 
wider if necessary. The slope of the dam will be one foot in 
twenty-five on the side away from the lake, but much steeper on 
the lake side. The crest or top of the dam will be 135 feet high. 

Extensive experiments are being carried on to obtain the fric- 
tion values of different available earths and also to what extent 
they allow moisture to seep through. 

This dam will be over one mile along its crest (about 8,000 
feet). Extensive drillings are being made along the length of the 
dam so that an exact knowledge of the foundation will be known 
and the work conform to it. 

49 



I stood on the trestle 
formin;; the lake end 
of the Uatun Dam and 
looked at the expanse 
of country that would 
be covered. 




From here I went up 
to the Offices of the 
Engineer and from the 
porch took a photo= 
graph of the Dam site. 
Old Gatun and the 
beginning of the cut 
for the Locks. 



Turning the Camera 
further to the right 
we have a contin= 
uation of the excava= 
tion for the Locks. 



The Spillway i s a 
mile and a half from 
the office from which 
the other two pictures 
were taken. This pic= 
ture shows Old Gatun 
from the Spillway and 
the offices and quar= 
ters further back on 
the high hill. 




50 




That portion of Gatun lying witliin tlie lalte. 




Tlie portion of Old Gatun on tlie site of the dam. 



51 



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The New Village to which the Residents of Old Gatun are to be Moved. 




Two Views. At Work on the Spillway Gatun Dam. 

52 




A Construction and Supply Train. 



Through the natural hill in the center of this line on which the 
dam is to be constructed they are making a cut for a spill way. It 
will be 600 feet wide and be filled with a concrete wall seventy or 
seventy-five feet high. Approximately 250,000 yards of concrete 
will be required for the spill way. Regulating gates will be erected 
on top of this wall of masonry, and the top of the spill way is to be 
approximately 90 feet high. 

The water in the lake is to be 85 feet above sea level. During 
the rainy season the gates, in the spill way will be open and the height 
of the lake maintained at the desired level. No water will ever 
flow over the crest of the dam ; the flow from the spill way will pass 
through a channel concreted on sides and bottom, and continued 
for a sufficient distance to avoid any possible damage to earth dam. 
The natural hills selected for abutments and spill way furnish a 
safeguard against earthquakes. 

_ It will require approximately 22,000,000 cubic yards of earth to 
build the dam, and suction dredges are to be used to throw in the 
earth. When the height becomes excessive for the pumps on the 
dredges, auxiliary pumps will be used, operated by electric motors. 
The lake side of the dam will be covered with rock to prevent action 
of the waves on the earth. The two extreme edges at the base of 
the dam are called toes. These are now being built. 

53 




Cut at Bas Obispo, showing the white Smoke arising from a Blast in the Distance. 



The quarters and offices for the employes stationed at the work 
on the Gatun dam and locks are about one mile from old Gatun 
and upon a high hill overlooking both dam and locks. 

The old town of Gatun lies partly on the site of the dam and 
partly where the bed of the lake will be. The work is progressing 
at this point to such an extent that it is only a matter of weeks 
before the town will have to be moved and another of the quaint 
landmarks gone; but it looks better in a picture than in reality, so 
no harm is clone. A new town to which the natives are to be moved 
has been built two miles to the northeast of old Gatun. 

The dam has a northeasterly direction, and at its eastern ex- 
tremity the locks will be located. The locks will lie nearly north 
and south. An enormous amount of excavation has already been 
done here through soft rock and red earth. 

There will be three locks in duplicate, that is, it will take three 
locks to lift a vessel from sea level to the 85-foot level, each step 
approximately a little over 28 feet. By having a duplicate set side 
by side, vessels can be coming up and going down at the same time. 
These locks will be 110 feet wide and each chamber 1,200 feet 
long. The water will be controlled with mitre gates such as are 
seen in canals all over the world. However, a new type roller gate 
of unusual construction will be used in the upper locks to prevent 
any accident caused by the breaking of the other gates. All the 
machinery for the locks is to be operated electrically when pos- 
sible. 

The rock on the isthmus is not good for concrete, neither is 
the sand. At Porto Bello, twenty-one miles down the coast, a 

54 




00 



bfeai 




1 


^ 


^ 








^HS^^ 


,'ji-^:«^W^B 


^ 


1 




■ 


i 






.., 


, ~ m 


If 


* 


s> 


^ 





Work in Canal Cut near Gorgrona. 



quarry has been located. The stone will be brought up in barges 
from there. For sand it looks as if it will be necessary to go fur- 
ther down the coast for it. 

The walls between the locks will be over 110 feet wide and the 
walls on the side equally as heavy. One can imagine what a big 
job it will be. None of this concrete work can be started until all 
the excavation is finished, but the engineering department is at 
work on plans for cable ways, mixers' sheds for cement, dumps 
and platforms for sand and rock; and before the last steam shovel 
and last blast have made the way clear there will be an erecting 
gang shoving them for room. Everyone is pushing everyone, and 
no time is lost anywhere, except when the rain is too much. 




56 




57 




A View looking: North up the Cut from Paraiso. 



TME MG CUT. CULEMA 



^* «^* e^^ 



The backbone of the isthmus is near Culebra. At this point 
the highest elevation on tlie new center hne of the canal before ex- 
cavation began by the French was 312 feet. At Bas Obispo, about 
four and a half miles nearer the Atlantic, the elevation was 233 feet. 

The French cut down the elevation at Culebra 161 feet and at 
Bas Obispo 148 feet. These cuts were not wide. When the Amer- 
icans took hold there remained a depth of 45 feet at Bas Obispo, 111 
feet at Culebra and on the barrier at Contractors Hill, just south of 
Culebra, a depth of 140 feet. 

While at points along the entire line of the canal you will see 
steam shovels at work, it is between Gorgona, about 28 miles from 
the deep water of the Atlantic, and Pedro Miguel, about 40 miles 
from the Atlantic, that one sees the great activity of steam shovels, 
air drills, blasting, track laying and track shifting, and dirt moving. 

The line of the Canal up to Gorgona has had little obstruction 
after passing the locks at Gatun, but the continual ascending char- 
acter of the country places in the way of the work this barrier of 
dirt and rock nearly twelve miles along its base and rising to the 
height of three hundred feet, through which a channel must be cut 
to a depth within forty feet of sea level. A channel of 600 feet wide 
at the bottom and ever widening width as the elevation increases, 

58 




Air Compressed Drills. 



until one is almost astounded at the mass of earth that has to be 
removed. Think of five hundred train loads of dirt being moved 
every day, trains of sixteen cars, and one realizes how busy the 
place is. 

Out of this big cut at Culebra three hundred and thirty trains 
are being hauled. About seventy steam shovels were at work along 
the entire canal ; the smallest take up two and a half cubic yards and 
can fill and dump a shovel full every eighteen seconds. The largest 
shovels take up five cubic yards. Some shovels will be filled and 
dumped every sixteen seconds, and if the competition between the 
various divisions keeps up they will be sure to cut this time down. 

The shovels lose time in being moved, as it is necessary to keep 
them always in working distance of the earth. Time is also lost in 
waiting for cars, yet no time is lost in moving trains. Many of the 
cars are dumped by air and many by the Lidgerwood system. This 
is done by a plow connected by a cable to a steam windlass. The 
windlass is on a special car placed between the train and the engine. 
The plow is on the rear car, the cable running over the 16 cars, along 
top of the earth. As soon as the train reaches the dump, the signal 
is given and in less than five minutes the cars are empty and off for 
more dirt. 

All along the work, air compressed drills can be seen, drilling 
for blasting and drilling to obtain the formation of the soil. Rec- 
ords of the work of every steam shovel is kept with accuracy and 
also of every drill. Comparative reports of steam shovels are pub- 
lished weekly and the efficiency wonderfully increased. 

59 




' *****' '^iiBfMi 'flMiRl "iWIIK * 




This photograph was 
taken of Gold Hill 
from Contractors' 
Hill, the intervening 
chasm being the 
channel of the canal . 
The picture is intend^ 
ed to convey the 
magnitude of the cut 
near Culebra. 



This photograph is 
one showing the side 
of Gold Hill with a 
nearer view than the 
one above. It was the 
intention to show the 
sixteen=car train and 
engine for a compara= 
tive picture; three 
cars and the engine 
were too far advanced , 
but by looking at 
these two pictures an 
idea can be had of 
the size of the work. 



60 




About one mile North of Paraiso, looking: South towards the Pacific Ocean. This was taken from 
an Elevated Tower in the center of the cut. Dirt Trains passed this point about every three 
minutes. 




About one mile North of Paraiso, looking North towards 
Culebra, this was taken from an elevated Tower in the center 
of the Cut. This with its companion picture at top of pag-e 
gives at least a stretch of six miles along the line of the 
Canal excavation. 

The Illustrations on page 60 were taken at the point 
where the smoke and steam is arising off in the distance. 



61 



In January, 1906, the output per shovel was 363 cubic yards per 
working day of eight hours; in January, 1908, the average output was 
increased to 1,084 cubic yards, and in February, 1908, to 1,186 cubic 
}'ards. From the interest shown there is reason to believe that this 
record will be increased. 

To walk from one end of this work to another impresses itself 
upon you. From Empire, one mile north of Culebra, on past Cule- 
bra, down to Paraiso, a distance of five miles, the sides of the great 
ditch loom up in giant proportions, and the towering Gold Hill on 
the left and Contractors Hill on the right, points just south of 
Culebra, seem to almost meet the sky; and then you realize what it 
means when you are told that still over one hundred feet deeper 
must the ditch go before the water can flow through. 

Just south of Gold Hill on the left is Cucaracha. In the fall of 
1907 this hill had a landslide and filled up the excavation to a depth 
of twenty feet, the total amount of material being estimated at 500,- 
000 cubic yards. The soil is of such a nature it looks as though it 
would keep on doing this, for some time to come. This movement 
first began in 1884 and ceased soon after 1889. Special work is 
being done to prevent further slides. It is just such things that 
make this work greater than even it appears to the observer. 

At Pedro Miguel, nearly forty miles from the deep water of the 
Atlantic, the descending elevation of the backbone has gone below 
the 85- foot level, and at this point the first of the great locks on the 
Pacific side will be located. At Miraflores, just one mile further, 
another dam will be built and between this dam and Pedro Miguel 
the other two locks will be located. Borings are being made to in- 
sure rock foundations for these locks ; originally two of these locks 
and the dam were to be located at La Boca, within four miles of deep 
water and right on the shore line, but this was abandoned because 
of engineering difficulties, foundations being poor and, further, the 
location of the locks inland offered more protection from attacks. 

From Miraflores to deep water the canal channel will have to be 
dug and dredged to make it a sea level canal. 




62 




63 




La Boca Docks, showing New Electric Cranes. 

LA §@€A 

At the Pacific terminus is the town of La Boca. The canal chan- 
nel extends four miles out to deep water, but large areas of level 
land are being made extending out towards deep water, giving the 
government space for the erection of works of any kind that may 
be necessary. The original site planned for the dam is also being 
filled in. 

The long piers at La Boca are used by the shipping interests and 
will be improved. Large ships do not sail from Panama, but from 
La Boca, which is the port for deep sea going vessels. Panama is 
about one mile west of La Boca. 

La Boca is an important place. But few people live here at pres- 
ent. However, when the canal is open it will be one of the busiest 
places in the canal zone. 




La Boca (Pacific Entrance), showing present Ship Yards. 

64 




go- 

ca <u 



o ^ 
■-5 c 



.5 O 



c a 



65 




-^UllMliR 



^ii.JisS 



-**•' 




HHillili 



."7 






^<f^^ 



Mmnn fi 






The Upper Picture shows the Interior of the Screened Porch, and the Lower Picture gives an 
exterior View of the same. These are Views of Married Quarters at La Boca. 

66 




A Lidgerwood Unloader. The Plow was moving: rapidly when this Picture was taken. Men 
and Camera barely had time to escape from the deluge of earth. This dirt is thrown off so 
quickly that one does not realize it. 



EXCAVATH® 



e^* t^* t^r* 



The French made a total excavation at ah points, including what 
is called the diversion channel, of nearly 82,000,000 cubic yards. 

The estimate made on April 1st of 1907 gave approximately 
102,000,000 cubic vards to be excavated in the canal channel above, 
nearly 8,000,000 for lock sites, a little over 2,000,000 for regulating 
work and diversion channel, and about 3,500,000 to open a construc- 
tion channel at Panama and to keep the channel open at La Boca. 

While in two years and three months the Americans excavated 
32,000,000 cubic yards, one year and three months' work had been 
done when the above estimates were made, so it is safe to say that 
from April 1st, 1908, nearly 100,000,000 cubic yards have to be 
removed, but in March of 1908 the total excavation was nearly 
three and a half million cubic yards. That meant concentrated 
effort and shows the efficiency attained by the organization. They 
have gotten into the right swing, and all they need now is the sup- 
port of the American people. 



67 




68 




69 



The Panama railroad, which is being used by day for hauHng 
dirt and construction material and by night for freight, was a single 
track road with a few sidings. The death rate for building this 
road is variously stated. Often it is said that for every tie there 
was the life of a man. This would mean 100,000. The most con- 
servative estimate was 2,400. This road has been practically double 
tracked since the taking over of the property by the American Gov- 
ernment, and owing to the plans of the canal, the entire road will 
have to be rebuilt at a higher elevation and along an entirely dif- 
ferent route. The location of the road is settled and work being 
done on the roadbed. 

Work of all kinds and at all points is progressing both in rail- 
road and canal, but no work can be finished until all is finished. All 
work is so interdependent on other work that the finished result of 
any one point can only be expected when it is the same at other 
points ; in other words, the canal will practically all be completed 
at all points about the same time, and if proper support is given 
by Congress and the people this time will be approximately in the 
spring of 1915. 

The force at work is efficient and energetic and has behind it 
the spirit and brains of men who are able and intelligent. The way 
the work has progressed demonstrates to one who investigates that 
failure can only be due to lack of appreciation upon the part of 
the people and the support of their representatives in Congress. 




Quarters of White European Laborers at Rio Grande. 



70 




Jamaicans at Noon Day Meal. Taken on the Excavation at the 
Spillway. 



TMIE JAMAHCAS 



M^W) ©TIHIEIR LAlOIl 
©KI TIHIE CAIMAL 



e^* ^* e^^ 

On the Isthmus of Panama the Jamaican negro seems to be a 
discredited individual among a large proportion of the people one 
meets. It presented a condition of affairs that made the dusky race 
interesting. I started on my observations in earnest, when the Ja- 
maican Africano who hauled my baggage tried to charge me double 
price and the carriage man tried the same trick ; but then the white 
cab driver in New York tries the same dodge, so maybe I look easy 
and throw temptation in the paths of the guileless. 

Someone, observing the splendid muscular proportions mv tailor 
so kindly provides, and noticing my stern eye and determined mien, 
advised me that it cost twenty-five dollars to lick a Jamaican negro 
and if I did it be sure and get my money's worth. Well, you know 

71 




l\ 



? 



A Common Method Among the Negroes in Carrj'ing Produce 
or any Burden. 

that under my austere exterior no fiery pugilistic desires are hidden. 
I ahvays refer my fistic engagements to my manager in that depart- 
ment, and he was busy packing goods some two thousand miles 
away. 

Well, to begin with, I found out that there were a number of 
negroes who were not Jamaicans, and of course when one is judge 
he must hear both sides of the case. I put the question to the 
Jamaican Africano (this word is mine) who drove my "carr}' all" 
and his verdict on the case was that only the Jamaican negro was 
good; all other negroes were lazy. The Jamaican worked hard and 
saved his money; the others loafed and spent their money foolishly. 

While this made the question seem easy, I found the colored 
guard divided against itself, each more or less dragging down the 
reputations of the other. The St. Luciens claimed they were the 
pick of the flock and the rest worse than cold storage eggs. The 
Barbadoes made the same plea for their island, so on their own tes- 
timony each crowd stood convicted by a majority of their own race 
of not being much good, and 'tis sad to think that I must go to their 
accusers to find their good points, or cull them out of the rubbish 
heap myself if I could. 

Now I haven't lined up all the points and settled this vexing 
problem, but I have settled on one point ; the word indolent seems to 

72 




From Barbadoes. Every Employe of the Canal Commission 
has a Star Shaped Check on which is Placed his Number. You 
can see the Check. 



7?> 




This is a Conversation Photograph. 

fit the case ; the colored people, Jamaicans and others, range from 
the very exceedingly provoking, exasperating, irresponsible indo- 
lents, to just plain indolent as compared with the white race. 

The reason seems to be in many a pure lack of physical strength 
and lack of mental development, or mental energy. They seem to 
be born tired and have a hard struggle to get past the point of doing 
nothing. One way of getting work out of them seems to be by putting 
a gang of them under the control of a man who has grasped the 
salient point that he is dealing with grown people with the minds 
of children ; allow him to teach them how to do one thing, let them 
respect and fear him as their superior. He will gradually weed 
out the "no goods" and in many cases instill a pride in others, and 
eventually secure as much work from two of these men as he would 
from one white man, and even better, if the work in question was 
such as not to require great physical strength. 

I found this condition true in four different gangs, and in each 
case the credit was due to the superior mind. One man in charge 
of a singing crowd of negroes told me that a negro could not talk 
and work at the same time, but they could sing and work, so he 
encouraged them to sing. A successful handler of these children 
of the dark skin cannot be a driver in the ordinary sense of the 
word ; he has to be a diplomat. Most Americans are hustlers and 



74 




Portion of a gang of men who had worked under one foreman 
two years. Good workers. Photograph taken at Empire, in 
March 1908. The temperature in the sun at Empire was 124° 
Fahrenheit. 

it grates on them to see three men trying to do the work of one. I 
saw seventeen negroes pick up a rail that weighed 700 pounds and 
grunt and groan over it. 

I saw two white men move a drill, and the next day saw six 
colored men doing the same work. This shows the physical de- 
ficiency; whether they lack the actual strength or the mental force 
to exert it I do not know, but I think that they are not really as 
strong. Illustrating their tired condition, an engineer had a colored 
fireman. This man was filling the boiler of the locomotive and 
went to sleep standing up while the water filled the boiler full. An- 
other told me of a colored fireman who, with an iron rake, was 
spreading out the coal on the fire. He went to sleep at this work, 
with the end of the rake in the fire. The handle got hot enough to 
burn through the fellow's gloves before he awoke. TheSe may be 
extreme cases, but they were vouched for by several people. 

The English have given the colored race educational facilities 
and one is often astonished at the excellent penmanship of a man 
as black as ebony. When they have had an education they will 
speak as precisely as a written composition. Yet, when you hear 
others talk it sounds more like a man saying the multiplication table 
with his mouth full of hot mush. And so it is — the swing of the 
pendulum is wide, from the no good to the some good. 

75 




A View looking towards Culebra. Towards the left many 
colored laborers are quartered. This is "Rio Grande" and 
white Europeans live along the street. 



One wise and very successful manager of the colored help who 
had about fifteen or twenty colored men domg as good work as any 
white man ever could do, said the first thing to do was not to hire 
any "drag foot nigger" — watch "how they step" a drag or a shuffle 
puts them out. He has had two years in shaping up his crowd and 
he is boss. Another successful man said he had had fifteen years' 
experience with this kind of help. His crew were nearly as good 
as white men, but he said the colored mind was incapable of moral 
courage or responsibility ; as soon as you threw responsibility on 
them they went to pieces. 

A man from the southern part of the United States, now work- 
ing on the canal, who had been in charge of labor in Louisiana, said 
he had better results from the negro in the States. They could do 
or would do more work than the Jamaican. Here and there I 
found hard workers. At the Imperial Hotel the night porter 
seemed very obliging and efficient, and every now and then I would 
find some one much above the average ; then one gradually begins to 
learn that one cannot expect so much from them and becomes less 
critical. H you shout at them or speak quickly they get rattled. 
Many of them who have the best education are almost impossible. 
They swell up and are impudent. Yet, you will find among this 
class men of ability of whom it seems unfair that they should suffer 
for the deficiencies of their fellows. 

76 




Taken at Rio Grande. Laborer and family at home. The 
woman on the board walk must be considered as a separate 
incident. She wanted to be in the picture and she is. 

On the following pagres is shown four groups, intended to 
give an idea of the class of labor that has enabled the Amer= 
lean foreman to carry out the work of construction. 

The women who do housework are the most inefficient of all 
classes as far as my limited observation went. Talk about the 
question paramount in many households in the United States of 
America, then join a circle of housekeepers on the canal zone, and 
the latter will give facts that will open the eyes of the ladies on the 
visiting committee. Here's where simple man has to fade, and yet 
there are some good ones somewhere, I am sure. 

As I said, it costs. $25.00 to lick a Jamaican or any negro who 
is a British subject. When I asked one man what he was, he said, 
"I am from Jamaica, I'm a British object." He was proud of the 
distinction ; he did not know the meaning exactly, but he knew, as 
he explained, that while you could call him all kinds of names, you 
could not "lay hands on his body;" he was a British "object" and it 
cost $25.00 to hit; this he knew. 

I interviewed one of King Edward's loyal supporters one hot 
afternoon. I had had a hot and dusty climb up a long and winding 
trail through the jungle to one of the highest points on the Atlantic 
side of the isthmus. In a clearing near the Britisher's hut I rested 
on an upturned tub. The man was interested in my camera, and 
though as black as black paint, his speech was excellent English. 
He used some quotation from Scripture, and I turned and looked, 

77 



k 






V 



^'^■"ISliff^ 








Group of European Laborers with American Foreman. 



saying, "What church do 3^ou belong to?" "To the EstabHshed 
Church of England." I followed up this question by asking him 
if he ever was in the United States, and he answered by saying 
he had been in New York for a year and had been a "beer slinger." 
"A what?" said I. "Why," said he, "I served beer at Coney Island." 
T asked him if he thought that business worked well with the Estab- 
lished Church of England. "Why not? Didn't St. Paul say, 'Take 
a little for your stomach's sake?'" "Yes, but do you? Are you 
not afraid it will get the best of you?" "Ah, no," says he; "one 
drink makes a colored man brave, and he's not afraid of any white 
man ; and do you know that two drinks make me so brave that I 
could spit in King Edward's face?" Here was a man giving testi- 
mony which seems almost strange, yet it is one of the vital points. 
The negro, childish, harmless and incompetent, can be turned into 
a most dangerous animal by liquor. 




European Laborers with American Foreman, Railroad Gang. 



^'\^ell, to cut it short, do 3'ou think, taking the bad with the good, 
that the American nation could build the canal with the Jamaican 
negro and others from the adjoining islands? Yes, in time, per- 
haps, but what time? A hundred years? No, it is only by the 
influx of the white European labor, and the brains of the American 
foreman, that the canal can be built. The negro has a place, but 
he ^^-ill have to get better or grow fewer and fewer in numbers ; the 
good ones are wanted and the good ones will be kept, and more will 
be tried, but the lazy, drag- foot, indolent negro so common will suc- 
cumb to the superior ability and energy of the White European, the 
East Indian and other classes of labor. The negro had a very 
exalted idea of his value to the Canal Commission, and became more 
and more useless until he found that French, Spanish and other 
European labor was displacing him ; but a change is taking place. 
The colored man, because he is a tropical production, has no cinch 
on this job. They are working on the canal zone, not loafing, and 
the loafer must s:o. 



79 




Construction Gang: Americans, Europeans and Negroes. 



■ 


frf^- 




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^& 


Ir^Jl ^ 


T fc^ ^ <w> 









Construction Gang, mainly Europeans. 

80 




Digg:ing Trench for Water Pipes at Empire. 



AMET ATE 



^^ e^* 1^* 



The Americans took possession of the canal at Panama in the 
spring of 1904. The experience of the builders of the Panama rail- 
road had taught those in control of the canal work that unless 
yellow fever and malaria could be controlled or eliminated it would 
be almost impossible to complete the canal. 

Here was a stretch of country fifty miles long, with the towns 
of Panama and Colon at the two ends, with a number of smaller 
towns in between. The sanitary department had not only these 
two diseases to control, but also had to care for the sick, the disposal 
of night soil and garbage, examination of food supplies, and general 
conditions. 

At the start if we had had military control work would have 
progressed more favorably; but the physicians in charge of the 



82 




An Old House near Mount Hope. Notice the Wheelbarrow in the 
foreground, placed on one side to prevent water accumulating in 
it. "Sanitary Orders," and they are obeyed. 

work of sanitation were military men and they have developed san- 
itation along lines where today their authority is so recognized that 
things move when they speak. It is not always the brains and the 
knowledge that bring about desirable results, but it is the power 
which permits the man or men who know how to enforce the regula- 
tions for the greatest good. 

It took from May, 1904, to December, 1905, to stamp out yellow 
fever. In the year 1905 there was a general fear among people, 
and it was most difficult to get employes, and if the conditions had 
not changed the canal probably would never have been finished. 

The Stegomyia mosquito is the insect that, when it bites a yel- 
low fever infected person, can carry the infection to any number. 
This was a theory advanced by Dr. Coles Finlary, and maintained 
by him since 1881. The correctness of the theory was fully dem- 
onstrated in Cuba, and Colonel Gorgas, who had charge in Cuba, 
was assigned to the work on the Canal Zone. 

83 



The department had to be organized. Panama was seven days 
from a base of supphes, and sickness made the hospitals busy. As 
soon as possible the fight against the causes of the disease began, 
carried on side by side with the care of the sick. Four hundred 
men were employed in a fumigating brigade ; the cities of Colon 
and Panama were fumigated. 

In Panama the entire city in the year 1905 was fumigated three 
times, fumigating every individual house, and in addition every 
block in which a case of yellow fever occurred that block had an- 
other dose. Two hundred thousand pounds of pyrethium, and 
400,000 pounds of sulphur, besides other fumigating materials were 
used. By and by this fumigation began to tell on the Sfegomvia. 

Then the breeding places were attacked ; it seems that they breed 
in water, so by screening or covering all water receptacles this brand 
of mosquitoes could not breed. And so the great battle of Stego- 
myia versus Gorgas et al. was won by Gorgas et al., but as a few 
remaining remnants of the pest may at any time invade the Canal 
Zone, vigilance is maintained. 

A yellow fever suspect is immediately put in a screened room 
to prevent any possibility of a mosquito biting the patient and carry- 
ing the infection. All incoming passengers are examined and the 
greatest precautions taken. Orders, I found, were tacked up on 
all shops and I presume notification thoroughly disseminated, that 
no receptacle or tool capable of holding water can be left in such a 
position that water may accumulate and form a breeding place. 
And down on the Canal Zone sanitary orders are orders. 

They have a number of doctors on the Canal Zone who are not 
in the army but are in the service of the government on this canal 
work, but what has made this work so efficient is the fact that these 
doctors now can know that they are working along established 
lines in their profession, and no untoward outside influence is work- 
ing against their medical skill. 

There is another mosquito, its name is Anopheles. It is respon- 
sible for malaria. It breeds in clean water where grass and algae 
grow. This mosquito does not fly farther than one hundred to two 
hundred yards. The work to do is to destroy its breeding places 
as far as possible, so around laborers' camps and villages every 
attempt is made, but it is impossible to do anything with swamps 
and the great stretches of country on each side of the canal. If 
one goes out hunting or on a jaunt through the jungle he is just as 
liable to pick up a bit of malaria as anything else. (The "Ano- 
pheles" will bite in the da3^time as well as night. They are found 
in shady places, so it is difficult to keep people from being infected 
by this malaria mosquito.) 

The sanitary department advise the taking of three grains of 
quinine every day. This is considered to put the individual in such 
a condition that the parasite of malaria will not thrive in the blood. 

To kill breeding places, all laborers' camps and settlements are 
drained by concrete ditches or sub-soil drains. Everything is done 

84 





Nurses' Quarters at Colon Hospital. The Picture on the right shows the Water in Front. 
The one on the left shows the Water Front Filled in. Work of Filling in Low Spots is 
going on in many places all over the Canal Zone. 

to prevent standing pools of water or ditches where grass and veg- 
etation will grow, and this requires careful work and constant su- 
pervision. The heavy rainfall and the luxuriant growth of tropical 
vegetation make the work all the more difficult. 

Every month shows new places to take' care of, new conditions, 
change of camps, progress in work, all requiring the most careful 
watching of the sanitary inspector, and the follow-up work of the 
sanitary brigade; houses to be screened, depressions to be filled, 
spaces around camps and villages to be cleared and land mowed, 
cleaning ditches, oiling, and making new ditches and grading. Then 
the canal prism, that is the big ditch, has to be watched, for water 
will accumulate in low spots after rainfall. 

The sanitary department has also the drinking water to care for, 
and the country' from which this water comes, the water shed, is 
guarded for cleanliness by strict laws, and you want to look out 
you don't break them. Laws are made for the sake of health and 
they are enforced. Health is the preeminent asset of the Canal Zone 
and must be preserved, and the "must" is in big type. 

In March, 1907, the sanitary department reports 36,387 em- 
ployes on the pay roll and 122 deaths, and in March, 1908, with 
43,276 employes on the pay roll and 45 deaths. In March, 1907, 
1,576 cases of malaria among employes admitted to the hospital; 
in March, 1908, only 533. In March, 1907, among the causes of 
death were 9 from typhoid fever, 53 from penumonia, 16 from ma- 
larial fever and 12 from tuberculosis. In March, 1908, one death 
from typhoid fever, five from pneumonia, nine from malarial fever 
and three from tuberculosis. Each year shows an improvement 
over the previous year. 

Bubonic plague exists along the west coast of South America and 
as far north as San Francisco. Here again our sanitary department 
were aware of the work and precautions necessary. It has been 

85 




A View from the Rear of the Imperial Hotel, showing 
How One=Half of the Street has been Filled in. Work is 
Progressing on the Other Portion. The Track is a Tem= 
porary one, put there in order that the Earth and Rock 
can be brought in from the Canal Excavations. 



ascertained the plague is carried by rats and the infection spread 
by a species of flea that infests the rat. 

Any ship leaving an infected port has pretty stiff quarantine 
regulations ; they have to be fumigated and disinfected upon leav- 
ing the port, and certain kinds of cargo are prohibited, especially 
food products attractive to rats. Then the vessel is held for a suf- 
ficient time to make the total time from the date of fumigation to 
be six or seven days. And do they live up to it? Well, you may 
be sure they do, and if not strictly up to the letter of the law, they 
are fumigated again and stay in quarantine six days. 

In a few months rats will be scarce on the Canal Zone. The 
bubonic plague has existed in ports from which shipping comes for 
four years. In the fall of 1905 there were two cases of bubonic 
plague. The sanitary department acted quickly and effectively. To- 
day a rat exterminating battle is on. Rat poison was tried, but rat 
traps are the thing, and after rats are caught they are cremated. A 




A Native Child drawing water from one of the hydrants 
installed at the suggestion of the Sanitary Department. 

large number of traps were ordered and are now doing work. 
When one considers what these doctors in the sanitary department 
have to think of it makes your head swim; they are rat catchers, 
bug killers, garbage removers and incinerators, sewer diggers, spe- 
cial police, fumigators, food supervisors, ditch cleaners, and jungle 
cleaners. 

And this is not all. In Colon they have ordered the raising of 
the street levels and the fihing in of the depressions under the 
houses. They have paved the streets in Colon and Panama. 

You will see people going to one of the many street hydrants 
and drawing pure, fresh water, all sanitary regulation and sugges- 
tion, and the water is free. 

When the work of sanitation goes beyond the functions of doc- 
tors' forces and becomes a construction and engineering feature, 
the engineering department take it up and do the work. 

The sanitary department has demonstrated its value. It exists 
so that others may live and enjoy life, so others may work and the 
great task completed. What the sanitary department does is not for 
the glory of its doing, but that others may use their faculties and, 
abilities to the fullness of their powers. It is the servant of the 
people and as the wisdom of its efforts become more and more ap- 
parent, every employee of intelligence on the Canal Zone becomes 
a part of the sanitary department. 

87 




Boiling their Beds to Rid tlietn of Bug's. 

INCIDENTS OF SANITATION. 

I saw a number of colored men standing around an iron tank 
about seven feet long and four feet wide. The tank was raised about 
ten inches or more from the ground, and underneath it was a wood 
fire. The tank was filled with boiling water. Nearby was a negro 
sleeping house. In these houses the bunks are oblong metal frames 
with canvas stretched in the center ; this forms a comfortable bed 
in this hot climate. These bunks are easily taken down. 

On the grass were a number of these bunks that had been wet 
and were drying in the sun. Others were being brought out and 
dumped into the boiling water. When I inquired what they were 
doing they said, "Cleaning house." You see the bugs get bad and 
we can't sleep, so we just boil them and they are all right, and they 
were. 

I sat down to a table and thought the bottom of the table legs 
looked queer. Each leg was set in a tin can and the can partially 
filled with oil. When I asked the reason, the answer was to keep 
the ants ofif the table. 

The maid used to oil the joints and crevices in my iron bedstead 
at Colon, and when I said why, she replied : "It is better so." And 
it must have been as she said, because I was comfortable. Fleas 
bother some people very much, but I did not have any trouble with 
them. 

88 




A Portion of Ancon Hospital. 

IHI©SHTAL AT AM€©l! 



^^ ^^ t^' 

A lady and I visted the hospital at Ancon. It is located on the 
hills back of Panama ; the air is fresh as they get a breeze nearly all 
the time. The beauty of the location is difficult to describe ; it is 
pleasing to the eye as you approach along the ascending drive-way, 
and the view of the surrounding country is equally as impressive. 

The buildings are of frame with porches. The illustrations give 
a better idea of the construction of the buildings. 

There is a general office. It was here we called and met the 
General Superintendent, Major Phillips, from these offices, under 
the guidance of the Major, we visited the store house where sup- 
plies of all kinds were kept; dishes, clothing, shoes, linen and all 
hospital necessities. In a separate building drugs and medicine were 
stored, and a regular shipping department arranged to fill orders 
from the different wards. We saw quinine tonic by the barrel ; this 
is sent in quantities along the canal to stations when required. 

They have wards for Americans, both surgical and medical ; sepa- 
rate wards for European white, and also separate for colored and 
separate wards for women. Twenty-one wards in all for these pur- 
poses. The operating room department, is a separate building 
thoroughly equipped with all the latest surgical appliances and X-Ray 
apparatus ; and near there is a complete medical library, and in this 
same building is kept a history of all the cases passing through the 
hospital. In addition to the store room and distributing room for 
drugs, there is a complete laboratory. 

In addition there is a building for tuberculosis patients, and a 
new building was just being completed for contagious diseases, but 

89 



jM 




■ * ., .1.4-,,..- • 


^fe..''-—^' >■ ■■^. 


JggflSMHIP'" "'"'"iiJi 


aiiMi ... ,]./ ;:r 





A View of Department for Insane. Hospital at Ancon. 

they have only had one case and that a case of measles. This build- 
ing was noticeably small. 

Under the jurisdiction of this hospital there is a separate depart- 
ment for insane, in which all the insane of the Isthmus, both the 
Republic of Panama and the Canal Zone, are taken care of. This 
has eleven separate buildings. Some buildings are divided into cells, 
others regular hospital style. The men and women are kept in dif- 
ferent buildings, and the whole is enclosed by a high fence. At the 
present time 160 patients are there, mostly colored. 

The hospital has a large central kitchen where all the food is pre- 
pared. The wards have subsidiary kitchens, and the food is dis- 
tributed to these places where it is heated when necessary. This 
takes a great burden off the individual wards and seems to be a de- 
sirable arrangement. The central kitchen distributes food to all 
kitchens attached to quarters ; these kitchens are equipped with gaso- 
line or electric stoves to keep this food warm until served. These 
kitchens were furnished with ice boxes to keep such food as required 
a cool place. 

Besides the homes for the officials, there are bachelor quarters 
for male employees of the canal commission, who may be assigned 
to them. A general mess for men ; delightful quarters for the 
female nurses, which include dining room, sitting room, library, sepa- 
rate bedrooms for each nurse, wide piazza or veranda, commanding 
a beautiful view and a fine breeze; and we must not forget the gar- 
den at the nurses' quarters, one lady making a specialty of collecting 
orchids. 

Some of these buildings are old French houses which have been 
renovated; others are new. The drainage and water supply is as 






Three Views of Hospital Grounds on Hill at Ancon. These Grounds are at a High Elevation. 

91 




An Interior View. A Patient in one of the wards 
of the Hospital at Ancon. 

near perfect as engineering skill can make. All buildings are per- 
fectly protected by screens against flies and mosquitoes. The laun- 
dry is a steam laundry with about eighty employees ; the latest 
machinery and devices used. This laundry does work for the hos- 
pital and also does private washing for employees of the commis- 
sion. The Hospital washing, however, is kept entirely separate from 
all others. (Hospital wash is sterilized.) 

The greatest courtesy was extended and every opportunity 
offered for close inspection. One is impressed with the discipline, 
neatness, and cleanliness of all parts of the hospital, and also with 
its desirable location high above the sea level. To walk up to any 
of the wards is a warm climb, but the view and the breeze repays 
one for the effort. 




92 




A Rear View of the Tivoli Hotel as Seen from the Grounds of the Ancon Hospital. 



AM€©IM AMW) rum TEV©LII 1HI©TEL 



e^* t^ t^ 



Ancon adjoins Panama, and the Tivoli Hotel is the largest thing 
in Ancon. It is like a large summer hotel in the States, only it is 
different. It is owned by the Commission, or rather by the United 
States, and has been opened to the public. You are charged from 
$3.50 up, for room only, 50 cents for breakfast, $1 for lunch, $1.25 
for dinner in the evening. 

You kick vigorously or mildly at the meals, according to your 
disposition, for the cooking is very poor ; oh very poor. You don't 
mind the price of the room so much if you have been in Colon for a 
time, you know that you have to pay for rooms everywhere, and that 
the Tivoli have fine ones. 

After you try a few meals at Hotel Central, in Panama, you do 
not kick so hard at the Tivoli Hotel meals. You begin to realize for 
some reason or other that outside of the private families, where the 
wives do the cooking, that the art of preparing food is a lost one. I 
had four meals as the guest of one of the employees at his home. 
His wife did the cooking; she couldn't get a cook. Well, those were 
the best meals I had on the Isthmus. I had two other good meals, 
one as the guest of an engineers' mess, and one that I had prepared 
specially. 

You begin to find out that it is harder to do some things on the 
Isthmus than it is in the States, and that is to get cooks and help for 
hotels, and you feel very grateful at last that the Commission opened 
the Tivoli Hotel. Of course, you feel grieved to find that there 

93 



iaaii|i 





iEB§i»i?«!Sl;!''- 



.i.^^iWWHSS;"- 



This is the Tivoli Hotel, as you approach near to it in your Drive from the Railroad Station 

at Panama to the Hotel. 



are some very fair rooms for a dollar and a half a day, that you 
didn't know of until you were departing, but this hotel, which is a 
vital necessity, must be run as a business proposition. It is used as 
a meeting place for the people along the canal, and is a lively place on 
Saturday night. 

It has had one good effect upon the Panama Hotels — they have 
to do something to compete, and that something is to give their 
patrons service. 

The sanitary conditions of the Hotel Tivoli are excellent, and it is 
as clean as the best hotel in the States. 

At the Tivoli Hotel, Ancon, on Saturday evening, February 29th, 
a flower dance was given. It was the first dance given by the Ancon 
Women's Club, and was a very pleasant affair. The guests of the 
Hotel were invited, and I accepted the invitation. Men and women 
from all along the Canal came in to Ancon that night, and many 
dress suits were brought out for the occasion. The summer dresses 
and flower decorations were quite unique to think of when just a 
short time before, snow and cold breezes were my companions. 

These Women's Clubs are causing much discussion. The repre- 
sentative of the "Women's Federation of Clubs," in the United 
States, came down to the Canal Zone and organized a number. The 
The Ancon's Women's Club, composed of the women of Ancon, was 
organized in the early part of 1907. The objects of the Club are 
social, literary and educational. They have business meetings once 
a month and other meetings for pleasure as directed by the officers. 

On Friday, I spent the afternoon at Empire and attended a 
minstrel show given by the Thespian Club, a Woman's Club, all 
Canal Zone talent. The entertainment was a great success, and 

94 




The View from my Room at the Tivoli, over Ancon. 

it was astonishing to observe the talent exhibited by the women and 
the few men friends that assisted. The people here feel the lack of 
entertainment, and they are filling the gap, to a certam extent, by 
their own efforts. 

The Women's Clubs are growing, and doing good work. 




95 




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96 




Two Friends on the Shore at Old Panama. 



t^* *^^ t^^ 



Old Panama, in the seventeenth century, was one of the wealth- 
iest cities in the world. The city was reputed to contain over twelve 
thousand buildings, many of them stone. There were monasteries 
and a magnificent hospital. The wealth of old Panama excited the 
envy of the world. 

Towards the close of 1670 Henry Morgan, the buccaneer, with 
a following of about two thousand men, made a nine days' march 
across the isthmus, attacked the city and gained complete control. 
The beautiful city was sacked and destroyed by fire. This fire hap- 
pened two hundred and thirty-eight years before I crossed the isth- 
mus (February, 1908). 

A friend and I visited old Panama together. Pie had been on 
the isthmus a year and had never seen it, and I was told that I must 
not miss it. The best way to reach it, some people will tell you, is 
to ride over on horseback, but a carriage was good enough for us, 
and perhaps for our comfort was better. We drove through the 
outlying district of this, the real Panama of today, and along a 
smooth country road for a mile or more, past some comfortable 
residences, and then struck off across the open fields where here 
and there faint wagon tracks indicated the way. After three miles 
of this traveling we entered the jungle. Our carriage could go but 

97 




A Trail through, the Jung-le at Old Panama 



a very limited distance. An eighth of a mile walk along the trail 
brought us to the beach. The shore spread out like a horse shoe, 
the tide was out and the shelving, sandy beach, fringed at its water's 
edge with a black, shallow ridge of mud. stretching for a quarter 
of a mile out to sea, made a unique picture. 

The ruins we were to see were nearly a mile from the point 
where we had reached the shore. It was 11 o'clock, and the sun 
shining overhead made the walk through the heavy sand hot and 
tiresome. We reached the ruins, consisting of the tower of a 
church, St. Augustine, and many ancient stone walls. All ap- 
proaches were covered with jungle growth. We found two others 
on the same errand as we, and compared notes. The place is his- 
toric, but the next time anyone mentions it I will advise him to read 
some old book of legends, look at a few pictures and let it suffice. 

There is a tunnel in the old tower, and in days made dim by 
the many years that have passed, but kept fresh by ancient history, 
a priest buried much treasure, precious stones and gold under the 
old tower. Everyone who visits - the place finds gold or jewels. 
One man, we were told, found a ruby, which he sold in New York 
for two thousand dollars. No one seems to know the name of this 
man. I might mention that none of the four who visited the place 
on March 1st, 1908, found anything except ticks and fleas and dis- 
comfort. 

98 




Ruins of Old Panama. Tower of the Church St. Augustine. 



99 



'jjt . '*>'>- 1 .^S^^dfifS^^/fS 




mi J ' m 











Old Stone "Wall, ruins of Panama. 



Commercially, Old Panama was great. The few stone walls, 
old foundations, and its church ruins are monuments of an adven- 
turous people, and even in their day, more than two centuries ago, 
the idea of an isthmian waterway was considered. 

On the return the tide had turned and we had to hasten or get 
our feet wet. This tide comes in about thirty inches or more an 
hour. Between tramping on jelly fish and chasing away sand flies, 
the return was very interesting. We lingered long enough to take 
snap photographs of a Spanish family on a picnic, a hunter, and a 
thirty-inch shark and a fisherman. 

The wife of the Spanish man and mother of five children was 
doing a little fishing with an old felt hat, and caught a half dozen 
small fish several inches long. We would see large fishes jump 
from the water, and half-naked men would wade thigh deep and 
cast nets. Evidently this shore is good fishing. 

On our return to town we passed a board enclosure. A crowd 
of Panamanians were coming out, and we counted no less than six 
game cocks, carried by their respective owners. One excited indi- 
vidual held up his bird and cried out in English, "He win." 

Right on top of this crowd we came to another but dififerent 
collection, women and children only. They were throwing water 
over each other. I jumped from the carriage to take a photograph, 
but no sooner had I left my seat than a bucket of water was thrown 

100 




View of opening in Tower at its base, showingr thickness 
of Walls. 



101 




The man to the left is full grown and is a Hunter. The 
young: man to the rig-ht is holding- a thirty inch shark, 
taken on the Beach at Old Panama. 



over my companion and my turn was next. Our driver became ex- 
cited, and was as eloquent as his vocabulary would permit. Two 
native policemen, advanced — notice, I say advanced — the}^ did not 
run. They would have detained us for a conversation, but the 
impression conveyed was that the people were onl}^ pla3dng and 
meant no harm. It was the first of the month, everybody was 
happy, and we were not the only persons who were wet. The peo- 
ple continued to chase each other. We drove out of range and 
watched them for a few minutes, and then continued to our hotel, 
where a late luncheon awaited us. 

In the afternoon we went to the ocean side, in New Panama, the 
Panama of today, and watched hundreds of pelicans fly and dive 
and fish. They were so numerous and so many would dive at once 
that it looked as if someone were throwing stones in the water. 
These pelicans seemed to catch a fish every time they dove. The 
water along the shore must be alive with small fish, like the waters 
near the shore of Old Panama. 



102 




An Old Bridge crosses a Stream near the beach. It is at the opening: of 
the Trail through the Jungle. We stepped across the Stream on our tnp 
at eleven a. m.; but two hours afterwards upon our return, founa tne 
tide had widened the stream to a River, and w ithin an hour more the lana 
on the left will be covered and the stream will be a Lake. This bridge has 
spanned the incoming and outgoing tide for over 240 years. 




Drawing- water from a Public Hydrant to throw on 
Passers-by. 

103, 




A Small Park in Panama which we passed on our Return from Old Panama. 



IPAMAM^ 



(,5* «^^ t^^ 

Shortly after Old Panama was destroyed a new Panama was 
built. It is the Panama of today. The city is laid out on a rocky 
point ; a wall from thirty to sixty feet high extends along the shore. 
In some places the wall was double, a moat being made for further 
protection. The Spaniards had no intention of being caught again 
in an unfortified city, and even today much of the old wall remains. 

All buildings in this new Panama were built to be used as forts ; 
the houses of stone have walls three feet thick, and heavy doors on 
the ground floor, windows on the second floor. The houses of Pan- 
ama are mainly of stone and cement. 

The windows in churches are nearly twenty feet from the 
ground. One is impressed with the similarity of this town to other 
Spanish towns in the older Spanish settlements in other parts of the 
world. 

The ground floor of the houses are given up to negro families, 
stores, work shops, etc., while the better class of people occupy the 
upper floors. Small porches overhanging the street are used by 
the families occupying the upper floors. 

The streets used to be paved with cobble stones. They are nar- 
row and crooked. The treaty with the Republic of Panama gave 
the United States control on the question of sanitation, and the 
Commission has had the streets repaved with brick, water works 
put in, and sewers laid ; had all cisterns removed, and cleaned up 

104 




Avenda Central, City of Panama. 



the city. The water for Panama comes from the upper or Rio 
Grande reservoir, and is good water. 

Panama has an ice plant, telephone system, and electric light 
plant, but no street railway. You walk or pay 20 cents silver per 
person to ride in one of the numerous carriages, or you can hire them 
by the hour. A fixed tariff is made and you can secure a printed 
copy. If you are overcharged you can call a policeman, and the 
chances are you will come out all right. It is wise to take a carriage 
driven by a man who speaks English. 

The view of Panama is picturesque, and the narrow streets and 
old buildings interesting. The shops are full of quaint Japanese 
and Chinese importations, and some of the most enterprising mer- 
chants are Chinese. 

The hotels are not good, but one can find worse ones in other 
cities. The Panamanian treats the American with courtesy and at 
no time could I find any but the kindliest feeling among them. The 
object lesson of the Commission management is not lost. Panama 
is a comparatively healthy and comfortable city. 

There are a number of old churches or church ruins in the city. 
San Felipe Neri was built in 1688. It has a plain front, a tower 
of Moorish type. In the round cupola, fastened to a cross bar, are 
old-time bells. This church is near Plaza San Francisco, and looks 
as if it was built partly as a fort. 

The ruins of Santa Domingo are partly overgrown with vegeta- 
tion. The church has a span of sixty feet, and the arch is so flat 
that it looks horizontal. "In the erection of this arch, after several 

105 





Looking towards the Flat Arch. 



Looking away from the Flat Arch. 



Ruins of Santo Domingo. 



failures, a priest stood under it until it was completed, and it did 
not fall." 

The Cathedral of Panama was built by a colored bishop of 
Panama. This bishop was the son of a charcoal burner, and was 
born on the isthmus. The church was built over 148 years ago. It 
is said that the bishop built it out of his private fortune, and com- 
pleted the work in 1760. 

There is the Church of La Merced, San Juan de Dios, St.. Ana, 
and others. The church of San Francisco, facing on Plaza San 
Francisco, is a large one. It was built early in the eighteenth 
century. 

In the last two hundred years Panama has had considerable 
activity in the way of attacks, fire and earthquakes, and it is not 
to be wondered that these churches have suffered- somewhat. They 
.are good ruins. 

The cemeteries of Panama are cjuadrangle in shape, surrounded 
by three tiers of bovedas (a boveda is a niche just large enough 
for a coffin). These bovedas are leased for a term of eighteen 
months, and the opening bricked up. When the rent for one of 
these spaces becomes overdue the contents are removed and the 

106 




View of Interior of Grave Yard at Panama, showing Catacombs. 




A Close View of Catacombs, Bovedas. 

space is for rent. When the space is permanently leased a tablet 
is erected. 

This idea of leases on bovedas seems to have come from Spam. 
The practice, no doubt, is being abolished, as the Panamanians seem 
to adopt many American customs ; and then it no doubt comes under 
the Commission's supervision, and I do not think they approve of 
many of the methods of the past. 

107 




Entrance to Ruins of Jesuit Church, Panama. 




Ruins, Jesuit Church, Panama. 



108 



;^ 




X 







Old Church at Arrayan (Village in Interior), showing Bells with date 1729 on them. 



CIHIUIRCIH] C©li^MTIl©l 



t^* e^* t^rf 



The church conditions on the Canal Zone are pecuhar. I met the 
Rev. Henry B. Bryan, Archdeacon of Panama. He spent prac- 
ticall}^ three -weeks on the isthmus in August, 1907, studying condi- 
tions and has been located here now (March 4th, 1908) about four 
months. The Canal Zone from its extreme limits on one side and 
the Magdalefia river on the other, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean, was a part of the English Diocese of the Honduras. The 
Church of England was established twenty-six years ago, when the 
French began canal operations, and there were ten congregations 
of English subjects. 

The Panama Railroad and the French Canal Company furnished 
suitable places of worship for these congregations. Three years 
ago when the Americans took charge, the Episcopal church was 
transferred to the American church. The transfer was completed 
January 1st, 1908. 

The following is an extract from the Rev. Henry B. Bryan's 
report : 

Ch nrcJi Privileges. 

The French company for building the canal took the Roman 
Catholic religion into the little settlements of workmen along the 
line. It built chapels for the Roman Catholics and a few for 
Anglican (colored) churchmen. These structures remain and some 

109 



arc in use. \\ c have seven and the Roman Catliohcs use five of 
them. 

The Roman CathoHc bishop of Panama lives in that cit}' and 
has a "college of priests."" The plan is much like an associate mis- 
sion. These men are sent up and down the railroad to minister to 
their people in the small villages and settlements. These settle- 
ments were started in the days of the French Canal Company; some- 
of them have as many as 1,000 inhabitants. 

There are 10,000 Jamaicans in the zone who are strongly at- 
tached to the Church of England and her services. They readily 
accept clergy in American orders. Your envoy was received as the 
representative of the American church and was accorded every 
courtesy and consideration by the two English clergymen and by 
their people. While the Anglican Book of Common Prayer is used 
in the two parish churches and mission chapels, prayers for the 
President of the United States, for the President of Panama are 
said, as well as those for the King and Royal Family of Great 
Britain. 

At Colon there is a parish known as Christ Church (550 com- 
municants, colored), of which Archdeacon Flendricks, a native of 
Jamaica, is Rector. His official signature reads : "Archdeacon of 
Panama and Rector of Colon." 

At Panama there is another parish, St. Paul's Church, with about 
the same number of colored communicants. The Rev. Geo. A. 
Eskens is the Rector. 

Although the Church of England has been at work for thirty 
years and has seven missions, besides two parishes, she has accom- 
plished scarcely anything among the whites — the Englishmen and 
American, in attaching cheni or even holding them in the Church. 

Theory and practice are at variance on the isthmus in matters 
of Church extension, as they are in many parts of the U. S. It 
has been the policy of the Church of England clergy to try to 
unite whites and blacks in the public worship of the Church. Arch- 
deacon Hendricks has dominated the Church work and life in these 
parts for fifteen years, and has steadily adhered to the "mixed" 
congregation policy. Bishop Ormsby seems to have coincided en- 
tirely with the above polic}'. The Bishop visited the Colon parish 
every twelve months, spending two weeks on the isthmus. 

Since the purchase of the canal property at least 10,000 Ameri- 
cans (whites) have come into the country. They are at very acces- 
sible points for missionary work, as they live along the line of the 
railroad and canal operations. This "mixed"" policy has failed to 
reach them. Although seats are set apart and reserved in both 
parish churches and missions for white people, they are seldom occu- 
pied. New-comers attend for a few times and then cease to go to 
church. It is the race or color question transferred from the United 
States to the Zone and Panama. 

110 




Jesuit Cathedral Ruins, Panama City. 

Bishop Ormsby steadfastly refused to acknowledge the necessity 
of providing separate church edifices for whites and blacks or 
Jamaicans. There has been no improvement in these matters in 
many years. 

OTHER MINISTERS. 

Besides the Roman clergy at least seven ministers do work in 
the territory. Three Baptist, one Presbyterian, one Campbellite and 
two Methodist ministers are doing evangelistic work, but are not 
sent out by any organized society." 



Ill 




Cathedral, Panama City. 



112 




113 




Fishing Boats at Ebb Tide, Panama. 




Pishing Boats on Marliet Day at Ebb Tide. 



114 




A Street in Panama. 



A IFHESTA m IPAMAMA- 

e3^ t^* ^* 

The day before Lent, at daybreak, a fiesta started. The native 
population, the Panamanians, wore their gala attire, and something 
in the way of mild merrymaking was going on at most of the vil- 
lages. As the day advanced and dusk approached, the number of 
women on the street increased; their dresses were of simple mate- 
rial but gorgeous in decorations, and scant in proportions at the 
shoulders but exceedingly full in the skirt. Decollete was the style 
in gowns, and bright red shoes were numerous. 

When the sun had hid itself and artificial light prevailed, the 
streets presented a different sight from the daytime. Eight of us 
walked along the middle of the street and walked up one street and 
down another. On all sides there was the rhythmatic beat of drum, 
chant of voices and scraping of feet. On each side of the street 
tables laden with food and lighted by oil lamps were spread to catch 



115 




A Street in Panama. On the night of the Fiesta this 
Street was alive with Merry-Makers. 

the hungry. The activity of the merrymakers seemed to be among 
the poorer classes, and these were much easier for us to find. 

There was much dancing, both indoors and in the street. One 
dance we saw was simply a man and woman standing close and 
walking around in one direction and then reversing ; but in the ma- 
jority of cases the man stood from six inches to two feet away from 
his partner. They would sway their bodies and wave their arms to 
the time of the beat of a drum or drums, and musicians standing in 
the center and the dancers circling around them in the reverse 
direction from the hands of a watch. The women carried candles 
aloft in the right hand, and their progressive motion seemed to be 
sort of a shuffle ; round and round they circled, new dancers break- 
ing in and old ones falling out ; dusky belles with the air of queens 
cast disdaining looks upon undesirable partners who tried to force 
their attentions, or coy and coquettish glances would encourage the 
desirable man. 

All the time these dances were going on a sort of chant would 
be sung. In the open front of the houses women would be seen 
dancing with women, and everywhere the people seemed to be in- 
tense in their interest of the dance. When a man and woman 
danced alone and not in the groups which we saw on the streets, 
they circled around each other and their steps and motions were 
more graceful, much like the Italian dance. If the young man is 
engaged to the girl, he carries a bottle of cologne and as they circle 
around with slow and graceful movement he throws the cologne 
on his fiancee in frequent and small drops as his arms wave in time 
to the music. 

116 . 



These festivities, of course, range from the grotesque to the beau- 
tiful, according to the character of the people, but it is all meant to 
indicate the last of the festivities before Lent. 

If the girl dancing has hats thrown at her feet it means an evi- 
dence of admiration, and her partner dancing with her at this time 
must "stand treat" and buy liquid refreshments for the crowd, both 
men and women. The liquid refreshment is not of an intoxicating 
nature. It is very complimentary for a girl to have hats thrown at 
her, and the more partners she gets the more popular she becomes, 
and this is one way they have of designating who is the belle of the 
evening. 

This festivity is in a measure a Mardigras, but much less in deco- 
rative features. After the Lenten season they have this again for 
a week, but before Lent, I v/as informed, it is only one day in dura- 
tion, although some did not stop until the evening of the following 
day, and the festivities may be continued longer in some places than 
others. 




117 




Mrs. Ruth Anderson Reohr Concert Company, 



A €©1M€E1^T m IPAIMAMA 



e^* e^* t^* 



There was excitement at the TivoH, and Panama was alive. As 
the hour of eight approached the rushing sound of wheels and the 
clang of bells and the hist-hist of those calling for carriages gave 
evidence of something going on. The Ancon Amusement Associa- 
tion was giving a concert at the J\Ietropole Theatre, Panama. We 
went. Time flies here as elsewhere, and thirty minutes elapsed be- 
fore the curtain arose. The seats, wooden chairs, were hidden from 
view by the audience. This means that standing room only was 
about correct^ although here and there a few chairs were vacant. 

While white costumes predominated both on men and women, 
a few regulation dress suits were in evidence. An air of expectancy 
filled the house, for four American w^omen were to entertain us. 
Electric fans buzzed and a faint illumination from the scattered elec- 
tric lights made the darkness visible. About 8 :25 some one beat a 
piece of iron with a hammer, or at least it sounded so, and in five 
minutes the "non-asbestos" curtain arose. 



118 




Entrance to Metropole Th.eatre. 

A street scene of some back street of somewhere, with a white 
mountain for its background, was our first view, but we forgot it 
when our talent appeared. Each selection called forth an encore 
and the event was enjoyed. The quality of the audience was good. 
The building — the Auditorium — was poor. It was of wood as plain 
as a barn, the whole painted a dull lead color, the roof of corrugated 
iron and not ceiled. Yet it is the only available theater in Panama, 
a city where good music is appreciated. 

But not for many months will the Panamanians have to wait, for 
on the water's front is a new building of marble, steel and cement, 
one end the President's palace and the other the most complete and 
beautiful theater one can conceive. It has an orchestra circle with 
two hundred and seventy-six chairs ; an amphitheatre with one hun- 
drew and eighty; two stage boxes, five chairs each; two tiers of 
boxes, twenty-five of which have eight chairs each; and the Presi- 
dent's box in the center of the second tier has seven chairs. The 
gallery has three hundred and eighty-four seats, which makes the 
total seating capacity one thousand and fifty-seven. 

The portion reserved for the stage is about as deep as the main 
floor of the theater, and is twice as high. Electric lights and fans 
are placed just right. The lavatories and conveniences for patrons 
are modern. The curtain is about thirty-six feet wide and thirty- 

119 




National Theatre, Panama. 

three feet high and is decorated. The dome and foyer have beau- 
tiful paintings. All this was done in Paris by Robert Lewis, a Pan- 
amanian. He is now Consul General to France for the Republic of 
Panama and is of English ancestry. 

*This theater was designed by F. H. Arosemena, a Panamanian 
engineer, and this government building is on the site of an old the- 
ater which Sarah Bernhardt opened some time during the building 
of the Canal by the French. The Metropole Theater, which is noth- 
ing but a barn, is about two years old. However, as the new theater 
opens the latter part of May or early part of June, 1908, our Amer- 
ican girls on their second tour may have a suitable place to appear in 
Panama. 



"^'The National Theater building was designed by G. N. Ruggieri 
of Panama, and constructed under the supervision of Mr. F. H. 
Arosemena. According to newspaper report this theater was opened 
the latter part of April, 1908. 



^^^^^ 



120 




The View of Panama fiom the Petite Louise, as we Start on the Trip to Taboga. 



T A § © G A 



t^* t5^ e^^ 



Along the Pacific coast of Panama islands are numerous, but 
of them all the island of Taboga is one of the most beautiful. It is 
mountainous, yet much of the land is under cultivation. Taboga 
pineapples have a reputation all over the Canal Zone, and mangoes, 
oranges and other fruits are cultivated. 

The island is twelve miles from Panama, and is a favorite resort 
for people from the mainland. 

A sanitarium on this island was established by the French and 
has been enlarged by the Canal Commission, and the convalescents 
are nursed back to health at this sanitarium. 

At Palo Seco, a point on the bay west of La Boca, is a leper 
colony. This is on the way to Taboga, and the boats carrying pas- 
sengers and supplies to Taboga also carry supplies for the leper 
colony. These supplies are transhipped to a small boat, that comes 
from the leper colony some distance from shore. 

The Steamer Petite Louise carries passengers and supplies from 
Panama to Taboga, and leaves Panama at an indefinite time and 
arrives at an indefinite time. It has a schedule, but does not seem 
able to follow it. The cause of delays are numerous. I took the 
trip with two companions, a lady and gentleman. We were told 
if we did not get there at a certain time — low tide — the lady would 
have to be carried, and as she felt afraid to risk the carrying part, 
we were on time. The tide was out and we walked fully a half 
mile over rocky and muddy shore to a small boat, and were rowed 
a mile from there to the Petite Louise lying in the bay. We waited 
an hour and a half for this relic of the times of the French to start, 
and at last, loaded down with people and supplies we were off. It 



121 




Discharg-ing- Supplies from Petite Louise 
for Leper Colony. 



was a most delightful ride, cool and pleasant. Near Palo Seco the 
leper supply boat met us and took a small portion of our cargo. 

Every thing seemed beautiful, the clouds played hide-and-seek 
with the sun ; the tints on the water changed with the light and the 
rocky and foliage-covered shores of the mainland and islands were 
restful backgrounds for the expanse of water. 

Within two hours the island of Taboga grew nearer, the Sani- 
tarium loomed up, and the old town of Taboga to the right made a 
picturesque view. 

We were met at the landing, made a short inspection, and had 
the opportunity of purchasing a meal at the Sanitarium. A number 
of convalescing patients were with us on one trip. These remained, 
and well ones who had had the benefit of the sea air returned with 
us on our voyage back. 

This island was inhabited during the time of Morgan, the free- 
booter, and is rich with anecdotes and relics. One of the nurses 
who has been on the isthmus for over three years, gave me the 
following : 

122 




Sanitarium at Taboga. 



"Some things that I have learned, are, that Taboga in its quaint 
legendary way, has many attractions. One is a large black cross 
on the highest point of land, at the extreme south, placed there by a 
Spanish priest, who was driven there during one of the early rebel- 
lions on the mainland, to starve or be killed by wild beasts. Instead 
he found peace and plenty, and in thankfulness to God he raised this 
cross to let others know that Christianity reigned, putting a light 
there at night to 'Guide Others.' Every year during 'Fiesta' week, 
just before Lent, a procession of natives go up the mountain and 
hang a lighted lantern on the cross for twenty-four hours. 

"In the cove at the foot of this mountain is what is called the 
'Fairy's Well.' In among the big boulders is a shallow well, lined 
with mother of pearl shells and fringed with green moss; strange 
to say, it is filled with very cool fresh water ; to look into it is like 
looking into a magic mirror. The natives come here and fill jugs 
with water for the sick. 

"At the extreme north are three crosses. In the early days of 
Taboga's native dwellers a 'Ship of Fortune' came into port with 
three leaders on board. After being entertained by the natives, and 
surprised to find beautiful girls there, they decided to give a grand 
ball on shipboard, issuing invitations to the effect that the women 
would be shown on board first, followed by the men. As soon as 
the last woman came on to the boat the gangway was closed, and 
they started to sail away. But the natives took to their boats and 
caught the ship before she reached deep water, The women jumped 



123 




Interior of Old Church. 



into the water. Determined to have the women the strangers came 
back to shore, and fought ; the natives took to the hihs, the strangers 
following. When the crew saw the last leader fall they took what 
women they conld and sailed away, never to return. The three 
crosses mark the resting place of the three leaders. 

"Another : On the water front of this mountain, as you climb 
up, you come to a shelf extending out over the water. When the 
water is clear you can look clown many fathoms and see the 'Mer- 
maid's Garden.' It is the most beautiful coral, white, pink, yellow, 
blue and green. Branches and flowers most exquisite in shape and 
color. It is too deep and swift for the natives to dive for it. 

"Again : The path leading to the 'Treasure Cave' is very beauti- 
ful when the cactus is in bloom, hanging in such a way as to hide 
the entrance. Legend says 'Morgan hid his treasure here; it is a 
very large cave, perhaps two hundred feet deep, and very dark. 
Only lanterns are useful, because of the strong draft. It can be 
reached only at low tide. A large boulder guards the entrance in 
such a manner that only a few of the many looking for it find it." 



124 




Landing- by Boat from Petite Louise. 




A View taken from the Sanitariur 

125 




A View of the Village of Taboga taken from the Sanitarium. 




A View taken from the Sanitarium at Taboga. 



126 




Old Oliurcli at Tabogra. 




A Close View of House in Old Taboga. 
127 




p. R. R. Railway Station, Colon, our Meeting Place at 5 :30 a. m. 



^ EX€UIFISII©1M P©WM TIHIE CIHIAQIPIES mVER 
WHLOM ©LP GATUIM T© F©1^T L©IRE1M£© 
AIMID) TIHIE CHTY ©E CIHIAOI^ES 



J* ^ 



I was advised to take an excursion down the Chagres River, and 
on Saturday I made arrangements for two friends to join me for 
the next day. It was necessary to get up at 4:30 A. M. in order 
to get something to eat and catch the 5 :30 train from Colon to 
Gatun. As usual, when I try to get up early, I awoke at one. then 
again at two, at three and four o'clock. This gave me plenty of time, 
so I bathed and shaved and felt in trim for the coffee and bread 
and butter and bananas that were served for my morning meal. 
At 5:15 our little party were at the railway station. It only took 
twenty minutes for the train to make the trip. At one of the way 
stations three engineers boarded the train. They had been hunting 
all night ; one eighty-five-pound deer was the result of their night's 
work, and they were a tired and sleepy lot. 

128 




At Old Gatun, our Starting- Place. 




In the River at Old Gatun. 

129 




The Cayuco that Carried us on our Trip. 



When we arrived at Gatun my friends, who had not had anything 
to eat, went up to the mess to get breakfast, and I started to old 
Gatun to hire a boat, a native boat cut from the truni<: of a tree. 
It is called a cayuco (Ki-u-ko). To secure one I first went to a 
Mr. Palmer. He introduced me to O. K. Brady and Brady passed 
me along to a personage he called Kiddo. Kiddo made me known 
to another, who said he would take me to his brother, and so I 
reached one point at last. The brother owned a cayuco, but he 
couldn't paddle, and he passed me along to another man and finally 
we made arrangements, but my paddlers had to eat breakfast. 

I filled in the time wandering around looking in at the open 
fronts of the houses at the people eating breakfast, watching the 
meat dealers cutting meat on the top of wooden posts out in the 
street. As the time approached 7 A. M. a Catholic priest stood on 
the porch of a house across from a dilapidated church building, a 
young lad rang three bells, and soon there gathered a small crowd 
for early worship, all colored, as far as I could distinguish. Sud- 
denly a commotion among the people denoted something unusual. 
Three men with machettes came down the street, and a crowd of 
twenty or more people followed. I ascertained that these men had 
been out road building and had lost their way, making it necessary 
to stay in the jungle all night, and these simple people were rejoicing 
at their return. 

At 7:15 our craft, containing the two paddlers and three pas- 
sengers, started on its way to Chagres and Fort Lorenzo. As we 
drifted past Old Gatun we saw naked children sitting in the shallow 
water, pouring water over themselves, using a gourd to dip up the 
water. We passed many cayucos loaded with various products, 

130 




131 




A View of the Bank of the Chagrres, showing- Tropical trees. 



bananas, sugar-cane, charcoal. We saw the weekly wash of the 
colored men. They seem first to go in for a good swim and bath, 
and let their clothes soak; they then stand beside a floating log and 
beat and scrub their clothes ; then spread them out to dry while they 
swim some more. 

We saw yellow tail birds, black birds, cranes and birds whose 
names we did not know. The river for four miles is jungle on 
both sides, with clearings for native huts, and the most attractive 
trails running to the water's edge. We would see in these clear 
patches cows, goats, horses, pigs and tame ducks. Where the growth 
of tropical trees and vegetation was thick we would see pale blue, 
yellow, bright red, pink, white and orange colored flowers, not in 
thick profusion, but just peeping out here and there. Cocoanut 
palms and milk wood trees were numerous, and also wild cane, 
from which the natives build their houses, was seen in abundance. 

132 




loo 




The Mouth of the Chagres River. We turned into a small 
Stream here for our Lianding- Place. 



We were in a winding lane of smooth water, bordered by a many- 
shaded fringe of green. Now low land with the blue sky near, and 
again the high hills with the background all green, with here and 
there in the foreground a patch of water lilies. We saw a tree with 
what appeared to be bunches of grass hanging from the limbs ; these 
were birds' nests, and we saw yellow tails going into them. In two 
hours we arrived at Chagres. They were making cliarcoal where 
we landed. The Alcalde, the Chief of Police, and the Secretary 
formed a reception committee to greet us. We signed our names in 
a book at the City Hall, paid twenty cents silver each as a contribu- 
tion to the good of something, and then went up the hill to visit the 
old fort, Fort Lorenzo. 







J^ 


(tT ■ 




K 


4i -^ -^.."V^X -■: v.; : •^^::^^^--'-^-^v^:J^^?:,:. 


ft 1 



Our Landing Place at Chagres. Making Charcoal. 

134 




A View of Main Street of Chagrres, taicen from our Landing Place. 




The second one from the left is the Alcalde. The one 
on the rig-ht is the Secretary. In the background is 
the City Hall of Chag-res. We received the most 
courteous treatment from these men and others ■whom 
•we met later. 

135 




Part of Fort Lorenzo. Tiiroug-h the opening' in the back- 
ground we found our way to the interior of the Fort. This 
apparently w^as a moat filled w^ith water. Under the shad- 
O'w of this arch we found a cool and comfortable place to 
eat our Liunch. 



The Doctor had provided luncheon, and as it was a nuisance to 
carry, we decided at 10 A. M. to eat. It rained hard for a half hour, 
but we had plenty of time to see the fort. At 12 noon we took 
our cayuco for the return journey. We took an additional paddler 
with us. He wanted to go to Gatun, and was willing to work his 
way, but he was a bunco steerer. He couldn't paddle very well, 
but he could talk, but he couldn't do both at the same time, and as 
talking was easier he did that. The sun shone in our faces, the 
brightness of the morning was over, and the poetry of the trip was 
waning. Suddenly a breeze sprung up and I spread my c^at for a 
sail. This put an idea into our pilot's head. He steered for shore, 
cut three palm branches of the saw-tooth variety. They were ten 
feet in length. He gave one to each of us passengers. With the 
sun in front the)^ made a shade for us — with the wind behind us 
they made a sail, or three sails, and merrily we bowled along. The 
river turned and the wind blew the wrong way; our sails were no 

136 







The Interior of the Fort Lorenzo. Tropical Vegetation Covers everything. The Man to 
the Left of the three is a Native Policeman. 

longer available, but fortune was still with us, for up the stream 
came a gasoline launch owned by Mr. Morden, and he gave, us a 
tow. We also took in tow a boat that had two hunters in it. It 
was a merry party, and our paddlers had smiles as big as their faces 
would let them. We left our cayuco at Gatun, and also the hunt- 
ing party. Mr. Morden invited us then to return to Christobal in 
his launch down the old French channel, and the day was a suc- 
cess. We broke the rudder on our launch, but Mr. Morden was 
raised in Michigan and couldn't be beaten. With an oar he steered 
the craft to 'a safe harbor. 

I mentioned, incidentally, we ate our lunch at 10 A. M. At 7 
P. M. we had soup, porterhouse steak, baked beans and four other 
vegetables, coffee and cocoa, two pieces of pie each, and some cheese 
(this meal specially prepared). To bed at 9:30. 




137 




The Zone Penitentiary at Culebra. 



!©TES ©IM rum CANAL £©IME 



tj5* «^* «^* 



The Zone Police force is made up of a fine body of men, well 
.qualified for the work; the majority of them are ex-sokliers, who 
have seen service in Cuba or the Philippines. The force consists of, 
approximately, three hundred, and is divided among eight main sta- 
tions and twenty-nine outposts, or out stations, in addition to the 
headquarters of the department. 

In the year ending June 30, 1907, the total number of arrests 
were 6,236, of which 925 were for violation of sanitary regulations, 
787 for intoxication and 1,176 disorderly conduct. Of the persons 
arrested 365 were females and 5,871 males. The total number of 
convictions resulting from these arrests were 5,193. 

On my return from the Canal Zone I heard the police depart- 
ment being criticized as being lazy. Everyone has a right to their 
opinion, and I give the figures above to let those who have not been 
on the Zone form their opinion. The men wearing the uniform of 
the Canal Zone police force appeared to me to be capable, and they 
were at all times courteous. 

The work of policing the Canal Zone is made difficult by the 
mixed nationalities of the laboring classes and their ignorance of the 
laws and conventionalities of civilization. The department has 
forty-one difi^erent nationalities on its arrest book. In March, 1908, 
there were 586 arrests, and in April, 591. There were forty nation- 

138 



alities represented in the 591 arrests and fifty-two offenses. There 
were 146 prisoners in the district jails on April 30, and ninety-five 
convicts in the Zone penitentiary. 

The convicts are employed in road building; the value of their 
work in April, 1908, was $1,580.00. 




Crazy Chinaman in his Hut. 



CiTfSigy €Ih\ninisiM(3iiin 

There is an old shack near Culebra, which is occupied by a crazy 
Chinaman. The story you are told is that this man had a brother 
who died on the Canal Zone and, since that time, the brother who 
was left would not go away from the place, and had lived for many 
years alone in the ramshackle shelter which he has constructed near 
the graveyard in which the brother was buried. 



Back in the country one can find small settlements and clearings. 
Fruit and vegetables are raised by the natives, and brought into 
market. Frequently one would see horsemen passing along the trail 
and disappear into what looked to be an impenetrable jungle. These 
are native produce dealers ; baskets and pack saddles are used to 
carry the produce. At Culebra, near the railway station, is a good 
market. Two snap shots were taken, — one of a man and woman on 
the way to market, another of a man on his return after disposing 
of his produce. 

139 





Coming to Market. 



Returning: Home from Market. 



laitglbsii 



There is a baseball league on the Canal Zone, consisting of seven 
teams, and good baseball is played, and people get just as excited 
and interested as we do over baseball in the States. A baseball park 
is at the rear of the Tivoli Hotel. If you are a guest, and have 
a room on the third floor, it is easy to obtain a very good view. 

The Ancon team was in the lead on April 15th, with an average 
of 867. You can talk baseball on the Isthmus as well as an)avhere, 
but there are some men who do not talk or think of anything except 
how much dirt is being moved. A stor}^ was told at one of the 
minstrel shows (all Zone talent), of a woman whose husband talked 
digging dirt and moving dirt, both when he was awake and asleep. 
Neighbors were invited to dinner one evening and, no sooner had 
the meal been served, than the host engaged the other man at the 
table in an animated discussion of the number of trains of dirt 
moved that day and the day before. The wife rose up from the 
table, went into another room, to return with an umbrella, which 
she raised, then seated herself again at the table. Her astonished 
husband exclaimed, "Why! What are you doing? What is wrong?" 
She replied, "Oh, I just want to keep the cinders out of m}^ eyes. 
So many trains are passing!" The subject changed and baseball 
was used as a compromise, — ladies can talk baseball on the Canal 
Zone. 

140 




The Band on the Canal Zone. 



im 



At nearly every large town one can see the conventional circular 
band stand. I do not know how many bands there are on the 
isthmus, but was able to secure a fair picture of the "Isthmusian 
Canal Commission Band," of which Chas. E. Jennings is musical 
director. This band gives weekly concerts at different points along 
the Canal Zone. The lack of entertainment from outside sources 
has brought out a remarkable lot of talent. 

w* «^^ «^* 



A great sum of money is handled on the Canal Zone and at 
Empire, in a large building, an efficient force of men receive and 
disburse all moneys. The system for taking care of this work 
seems to have many safeguards that increase the detail, yet, strange 
to say, the paying off of this large force is done in less time than 
the average railroad in the States can do it. A man known in Evans- 
ton, Illinois, as "Shorty" Williams, but whose signature reads, 
"Edward J. Williams," is responsible for the conduct of this office. 
He says the secret is in having a good system, and having good men 
to carry it out. Mr. Williams' training has been in railroad work 
nearly all his life. It seems that railroad training is a good basis 
for men engaged on the Canal work. 

141 



EIl®(Sttirn€ Wsmi, 

I read a statement that all the Commission hotels were equipped 
with electric fans. As mosquitoes and flies do not like a breeze it 
seems that the introduction of these fans have a double value. 

In one of Col. Gorgas' reports, he cautions people against flies 
as carriers of typhoid fever germs, so the introduction of any device 
obnoxious to disease-breeding insects is of value. 

(^5* e^^ t2^ 



On the timetable of the Panama Railroad there are twenty-seven 
stations, fourteen of which are marked as having telegraph sta- 
tions. When in Colon I wished to communicate with Culebra, but 
did not find it was marked as a telegraph station, and when I 
inquired of one of the P. R. R. employees was told to go to Pier 
11 and telephone. I found that all the various headquarters and 
departments along the line were connected by telephone, and it after- 
wards proved a great convenience. This telephone system is a part 
of the P. R. R. equipment and gave good service. It is used ex- 
tensively by the Canal Commission, and it can be safely stated that 
the telephone is doing its share in reducing the time for the comple- 
tion of the Canal. The telephone is an efficient time saver. 




The Alligator killed at La Boca. 

142 



^;.*i^' 



y^:'.r-^. 



>..:^ 









USL. 



This Alligator measured fourteen feet six inches. 




This AUig-ator measured eleven feet. The mouth is 
propped open and a little Alligator one foot long: is 
suspended from the upper jaw. The Boat in the rear 
is the one used by the Hunters. 



143 




Just two Alligators. 



I©ini©tt@iiiiy ©If URn® W®!rlk siini^ ID)nv©ir§n©ini^ 



The continual digging and unchanging character of the work 
for many of the men would make it impossible to retain efficient 
help on the Canal Zone were not some variety or outlet offered; 
baseball, music, minstrel shows, athletic sports all have their func- 
tion in giving the workers the much-needed diversion of mind and 
body. Hunting is one of the diversions that appeal to the minds of 
some of the men, and while deer and other animals abound in num- 
bers, the keenest delight is alligator hunting. It entails much physi- 
cal endurance, and success depends on the skill of the marksman. 

At the harbor of LaBoca a large and fierce specimen made 
the waters dangerous. A boatload of hunters made the attempt to 
rid the harbor. Where the fresh water of the Rio Grande empties 
itself into the bay the monster was found; a bullet fired hit him in 
the eye. The boat was upset, but, by good fortune and a rope, the 
monster was landed. He was said to be twenty feet long. The 
camera gives you a fair idea. 

Four men went out into the jungle to hunt alligators. One of 
the alligators which they killed measured eighteen feet; another 
one eleven feet, and four smaller ones. Four of the men in the 
picture are hunters. The others just came in to get their pictures 
taken. 

These same hunters, on another trip, killed an alligator fourteen 
feet six inches long. My friends were not content with the labor 
of hunting alligators, but were lively and doing odd things, thor- 
oughly enjoying their holiday. 

144 



1FI(S(q] IBMg 

<^* t^^ c^^ 

There is a^ pest on the isthmus which is known as the red bug. 
It is also called a jigger. It resembles what we know in this country 
as a tick. 

The red bug lives in the grass and tropical vegetation that grows 
underfoot. A person wearing low shoes will find the ankles covered 
with red spots after taking a walk through the jungle or grass. 

The red bug produces a painful irritation. The negroes who go 
barefoot are frequent sufferers from this pest, even though their 
skin is tough and callous. 

The men whose work takes them in the brush wear leather leg- 
gings to protect themselves. Hunters have to be careful to see that 
the leg from the foot up to the knee is well covered. 





K' 




^fe^^s 


&%«^ ^^^A^l 


^^Bd^H 


y'.^^M^^M^ 




W^^ 




'^^^^s^' 


4, '■ 


^,^^^^^^P 


■ i ■ 





Three Hunters in a Tree. Tlie fourth 
is Shooting: them with the Camera. 



145 



MAIP ©IF TIHIE CANAL EOIME 

^^ e^* <^^ 

On the following map will be found the route of the Canal, the 
location of the various towns, the outline of the lake which will be 
formed by the dam at Gatun, and also the lake which was contem- 
plated when it was decided to put the dam on the Pacific side at 
La Boca. 

The dam at La Boca is not to be built and in examining the 
map you will consider the dam at Miraflores, and the canal a sea 
level canal from that point. 

As an aid to the map and for general information on the location 
of settlements along the canal, the Panama railroad time table of 
March 1st, 1908, is reproduced. 

A time table of the Panama railroad is liable to alterations from 
time to time as the new tracks are laid along the relocated right of 
way. But everything is changing on the Canal Zone; our men on 
the isthmus are making history every day. 



PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY 

TIME TABLE No. 1 
TAKING KFFKCT MARCH 1st, 1908 



SOrXHWAKD. 



No. 7 
Pa.ss. 

Daily 



Leave 
p. M. 

4..^5 

s 4.:r7 

s 4.4:! 

f 4.4S 

.s 4.55 

f 5.0:^ 

f 5.08 

s 5. 15 

s S.ii 

s .5.:11 

5..'i5 

s 5.:!7 

f 5.40 

s .5.4;5 
s 5.5:i 
s 5.58 

s 6.0'^ 

s 0.17 

s (i.2-2 

(i.'iO 

K fi.:!-2 

s (i.:?7 

s (i.4-2 
.s 0.50 

7.00 



No. 5 
Pass. 

Daily 



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No. 3 
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Darly 

liCave 



10.:iO 
10.*! 
10.:!7 
10.4.S 
10.50 

n.oo 

11.06 

ii:i8 

11.22 

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11.^5 
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11.40 

11.45 
11. .5-! 
11.58 
P. M. 
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12..50 
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6.10 
6.18 

6.20 
6.;!0 
6.:!2 
6.;i.5 

6.40 
6.40 
0.54 

6.50 
7.05 
7.14 

7.19 
7.26 
7.28 
7.31 
7.:!5 
'7.40 
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7.50 



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Miles 



S Stop 

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.STATION'S 

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s 9.0;! 
s 8..58 
f S..50 
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s 8.0'! 

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7.54 

s 7..50 
s 7.41 
s 7.:!6 

s 7.-^2 
.s 7.26 
s 7.17 

f 7.10 

7.00 

s 6.,58 

s 6.i>4 

s 6.i50 

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No. 6 
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p. M. . 
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s 11. .52 
f 11.48 
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s 11.45 
s ll.:57 
s .ll.:!2 

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s 11.20 
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s .11.0$ 
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f 10..-.6: 

s 10.52 

s 10:48 

s 10.40 

10.!!:i 

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2.4! 

2.40 
s 2.:!2 



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Daily 



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7.2>l 
7.22 
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7.0<) 



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S fi.'27 
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s 6.14 

s 6.10 
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A. M. A. M., 

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146 



A. M. A. M. P. M. V. M. 

Leave Leave' I Leave Leave 



162 91 



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€©L©1MEL WHLLDAM CIRAWIFOIFIP GOIRGAS 

e^* t^* •^' 

Just before the last pages of this book were on the press the 
American Medical Association, in a convention held in Chicago the 
second week of June, 1908, elected Colonel Gorgas to the office of 
President of the Association. 

Colonel Gorgas was born in Mobile, Alabama, October 3rd, 1854. 
At the age of twenty-one he graduated from the University of the 
South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He finished his professional course 
four years later at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York 
City, and became a member of the house staff of the hospital. After 
a few months of this work he entered the army service. 



TIHIE ISTIKIMIIAM CAIMAL €®MM0S§S®1M 
US AS IFOLLOWSo 

t^* 4^^ t^^ 

Lieut. -Col. Geo. W. Goethals, U. S. A., Chairman and Chief 
Engineer, Culebra. 

Major D. D. Gaillard, U. S. A., Culebra. 

Major Wm. L. Sibert, U. S. A., Culebra. 

Civil Engineer H. H. Rousseau, U. S. N., Culebra. 

Mr. Jo C. S. Blackburn, Ancon. 

Colonel W. C. Gorgas, U. S. A., Ancon. 

Mr. Jackson Smith, Culebra. 

Mr. Joseph Bucklin Bishop, Secretary, Ancon. 

The commission have organized ten departments, each managed 
by its own department head, but all reporting to and carrying out 
the plans of the commission. These departments are : 

Construction and Engineering. 

Civil Administration. 

Canal Zone Judiciary. 

Sanitation. 

Labor, Quarters and Subsistence. 

Disbursements. 

Examiner of Accounts. 

Panama Railroad Company. 

Commissary Department. 

Purchasing Department. 

148 : 



©TIHIEIFl ©©ones 

^^ f^^ t^^ 

This book, "On the Canal Zone," deals with the personal im- 
pressions of the conditions of affairs that exist today, and is almost 
a sequel to other books published in the past year. 

Mr. Tracy Robinson has written "Panama, a Personal Record 
of Forty-six Years," published by the Star and Plerald Company, 
New York and Panama. After you have read Mr. Robinson's book 
you will all the more appreciate the results of the work on the canal 
today. 

Mr. C. H. Forbes-Lindsay has written "Panama, The Isthmus 
and Canal," published by John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 
This is a most interesting historical account of the achievements on 
the isthmus up to the year 1906. 

Mr. Michael Delevante's book, "Panama Pictures," published by 
Alden Bros, of New York, gives a description of a trip across the 
isthmus in 1906, and a story of the condition in 1904, and another 
story of the early seventies. 

"Panama Patchwork," by James Stanley Gilbert, published by 
Robert Grier Cooke, New York, is a book of poems, all of some his- 
torical connection with the isthmus. 

Irvin and Thomas in Colon and Cristobal, and A. Bienkowski, in 
Panama and Ancon, have illustrated souvenir books. These are pic- 
torial histories of the progress of the Canal. 




149 



IMP 



PAGE 



Introductory 7 

En Route for the Isthmus of Panama 9 

The Arrival at Cristobal 15 

An Account of Investigation on Washington's Birthday ....... 24 

A Short Description and Inventory of Cristobal 31 

A Fire in Colon 37 

Commission Club Houses 40 

The Canal 45 

Gatun Dam and Locks 49 

The Big Cut, Culebra 58 

La Boca 64 

Excavations • 67 

The Jamaican Negro and other labor on the Canal 71 

Sanitation 82 

Hospital at Ancon 89 

Ancon and the Tivoli Hotel 93 

Old Panama 97 

Panama 104 

Church Conditions 109 

A Fiesta in Panama • 115 

A Concert in Panama 118 

Taboga • 121 

An Excursion down the Chagres River from Old Gatun to 

Fort Lorenzo and the City of Chagres 128 

Notes on the Canal Zone 138 

Map of Canal Zone 146 

Colonel W. C. Gorgas 148 

Canal Commission 148 

Other Books 149 

The Half-Tone Engravings and Cover Design were made 
BY Barnes-Crosby Co. , Chicago. 



Printing by Wagner & Hanson Co,, Chicago. 
150 



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